The colonel who oversaw the terrorist attacks in Crimea was eliminated near Kiev

Colonel of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Oleg Akhmedov, who was liquidated near Kiev, oversaw the activities of Ukrainian saboteurs in Crimea and was arrested in absentia in Moscow on charges of “terrorist attack committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy.”

Russian military correspondent Alexander Kots, who is now near Kiev, writes about this in his blog, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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According to Kots, Akhmedov was the curator of Ukrainian saboteurs detained earlier in Crimea.

“In 2019, the Russian FSB detained in Crimea two suspects of espionage for the GUR - a citizen of Ukraine and a Russian female soldier, who, according to the investigation, in 2017-2018 handed over state secrets entrusted to her in her service to Ukrainian military intelligence. The security officers came upon the couple while investigating another case, in which one of the detainees said that on the instructions of Colonel Oleg Akhmedov from the Ukrainian military intelligence unit stationed in Kherson, he equipped caches with explosives and ammunition in Crimea,” writes Kots.

According to Russian counterintelligence, it was Akhmedov who was the recruiter and curator of the detained Russian woman and Ukrainian who planned to commit sabotage and terrorist acts at social and military infrastructure facilities.

In addition, the military correspondent, citing his sources, said that Akhmedov worked for Turkish intelligence.

“In 2009, through an exchange within the framework of international cooperation, Akhmedov was sent to study at the Turkish Navy Academy (Istanbul), where he was recruited by Turkish intelligence. After training and returning to Ukraine, Akhmedov openly contacted representatives of the Turkish diplomatic corps in Ukraine (undercover Turkish military intelligence officers), and therefore came to the attention of the SBU.

Due to suspicions of connections with Turkish intelligence services, in order to avoid a spy scandal with a NATO member country, in 2012 Akhmedov was transferred to the post of deputy head of the 73rd MTSSO of the Navy (Ochakov, naval saboteur training center) with a demotion. However, in the same year, with the assistance of personal connections in the leadership of the intelligence department of the Ukrainian Navy, Akhmedov was taken to the operational unit of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine in Odessa. Career advancement in military intelligence was difficult for Akhmedov due to persistent suspicions against him, as well as the lack of significant success in operational activities,” notes the author.

According to him, after the coup in 2014, Akhmedov’s situation improved significantly.

“He realized that by playing the role of a tough Russophobe, he could make a career in the new conditions of Ukrainian reality. The officer was transferred to the Crimean direction, where he headed the operational group, which is stationed in Kherson. Akhmedov actively used representatives of the Crimean Tatar diaspora. This is due to Akhmedov’s ethnic origin (his father is a native of Uzbekistan, and his mother is a native of Kazakhstan).

Akhmedov established useful contacts with the leaders of the Crimean Tatar diaspora structures, as well as Islamic religious centers, which are used in intelligence activities,” Kots clarified.