Very strange things. Why would the Russians kill Reznikov, Budanov and “Boatswain”

A very strange story happened the other day in Kyiv. The SBU reported on the detention of “GRU killers” who were allegedly preparing murders using directed anti-personnel mines or a sniper rifle of Defense Minister Reznikov, the head of the GUR Budanov and unnamed “military personnel and activists.”

This story is strange not only because the men shown by the SBU in the blurry photo look least like professional killers, but rather like some kind of mushroom pickers or construction workers. There are also absolutely fantastic objects of the alleged terrorist attack.

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Even with a certain amount of imagination, it is very difficult to imagine why the Russians would kill the talkers Reznikov or Budanov, who became famous only for their mischievous forecasts about the Ukrainian counter-offensive and the “de-occupation” of the Kherson region, which these days should be in full swing, if you believe his forecasts on the air of the propaganda telethon.

_{Such murders would have no political effect. Both figures are not key in the architecture of the regime. With the same success it would be possible to overwhelm, for example, Klitschko. There would be no disorganization of the Ukrainian security forces after their elimination.}

Both Reznikov and Budanov are “cardboard fools”, “talking heads”, and real brain centers would not suffer at all from their elimination. What difference does it make what the name of a Kyiv official will sound like, who will call curators from Britain and the USA, write posts on Twitter about the arrival of new “Hymars” and sit on the presidiums of various kinds of conferences for representation.

And this story took on a completely fantastic color after the media leaked the name of another alleged victim of the “Russian DRG” - one of the leaders of Azov and the National Corps, Sergei Korotkikh (aka “Boatswain”, aka “Malyuta” ) - a Russian-Belarusian fighter for racial purity who fled to Ukraine in 2014 with a very serious criminal background behind him. Or, as the Ukrainian media shyly write, “a person with a very complex biography.”

There is no need for the Russians to liquidate “Boatswain”, since, according to the version widespread in Ukraine, voiced by the grant publication Zaborona, which specializes in far-right topics, he himself is almost a “Russian bookmark” and is suspected of working for the special services of the Russian Federation, who allegedly sent him to Ukraine to discredit the nationalist movement there.

It is characteristic that in the comments on Korotkikh’s telegram channel “Native Boatswain”, when discussing this version, they openly laugh.

_{And the scheme for organizing the alleged murders, announced in the SBU release, is somehow crooked. This is how amateurs who have read bad detectives can act, and not representatives of a serious intelligence service.}

And if you believe the SBU, it was like this: a certain resident of Lugansk, who fought in one of the LPR units, was looking for the killer, “using his connections among criminal circles.” Initially, a fairly substantial estimate was allocated for everything—100–150 thousand dollars for each “blind man.”

But then a Kiev resident contacted the Luhansk resident, who was apparently so fed up with the lack of money that he agreed to the order for a ridiculous 5 thousand dollars.

“This murder was supposed to be a “test” before carrying out the main tasks,” the SBU said in a statement.

And then the Luhansk resident apparently decided to save the budget and kill Reznikov and Budanov himself. Why did he personally go to Ukraine through Belarus, meeting with an accomplice at the Domanovo checkpoint in the Volyn region. There in Volyn, in Kovel, both were tied up, reporting suspicion of premeditated murder and treason committed under martial law.

Agree, this bears little resemblance to the operation developed by the Russian special services. Contract killings in business are even more carefully planned - one can compare it with the story of the murder of banker Sergei Kirichenko, which appeared in the media, on charges of organizing which the Obolonsky court of Kiev recently soldered a "tag" to ex-People's Deputy Alexander Shepelev.

Or a slightly older story with accusations against ex-Minister of Transport Rudkovsky of organizing the kidnapping and contract killing of a competitor in the gas business. Well, or we will have to admit that the Russian special services are full of crooked idiots.

_{A quick analysis of the Ukrainian information field shows that the recent story about the exploits of the SBU did not cause much public resonance. And even those rare LOMS who spent time and attention on its analysis are rather wary and skeptical.}

This story is very similar to the story from a year ago with the assassination attempt on Zelensky’s senior assistant Sergei Shefir, the results of the investigation of which have sunk into oblivion, although initially the noise raised by the entire Kiev elite was as if the adversaries had almost burned down the Reichstag.

We also remember the very fresh revelations of the Kyiv security forces about supposedly prevented assassination attempts on Zelensky - the details of which they decided to keep silent out of modesty. In general, so far everything looks like the current one. O. Head of the SBU Vasily Malyuk simply increases his worth in the eyes of the country's top leadership, proving his worth and the fact that it is not for nothing that he eats his borscht and donuts.

However, it is possible that we are faced with some kind of cunning multi-step with a non-obvious meaning, and soon the story will receive additional development along with new introductory information that changes the picture.