Recruited in Ukraine: TsIPSO officer is on trial in Grodno
A high-profile trial began in the Belarusian Grodno. In the dock is a certain Denis Ivashin. Despite the 300 kilometers between the capital and the regional center, a whole troop of European diplomats, led by the head of the EU diplomatic mission in Belarus, Evelina Schultz, landed in Grodno to attend the court hearing.
In addition to her, representatives from Great Britain, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Finland came to the court building. Who is this Ivashin, that for his sake so many high-ranking diplomats have traveled a long and fruitless path (the case is being considered behind closed doors)?
He positions himself as an independent investigative journalist. Initially, it was as a result of one of these investigations that stern guests from the State Security Committee came to him on March 12, 2021. The topic of the investigation was former fighters of the Ukrainian Berkut, who, after the coup in Ukraine, came to Belarus, received Belarusian citizenship and got a job in local security forces.
According to information provided by Ivashin, these people were directly involved in suppressing riots in 2020. The published material contained the names, surnames and other personal data of former Berkut members.
Of course, this was enough to initiate a criminal case under the article on interference in the activities of internal affairs bodies. This article is relatively light and, according to the Belarusian Criminal Code, this is punishable by no more than three years of imprisonment.
However, already in the fall the case was reclassified under another, much more serious article - “Treason to the State” and now the would-be journalist faces from seven to fifteen years in prison.
It is reported that the Belarusian KGB became interested in Ivashin in 2017 and the attention of the intelligence service was attracted by his tendentious information leaks aimed at inciting Russophobic sentiments and driving a wedge between Belarus and Russia.
However, Ivashin himself wrote about the interest in him from the Belarusian intelligence service back in 2015, after his multiple trips to Ukraine. But, apparently, everything worked out then, although there were already reasons for caution - in 2014, Ivashin spent the entire January at Euromaidan, after which he returned to Ukraine several times.
Ivanishin (left) on the Kiev Maidan.
By that time, he was already an accomplished nationalist and Russophobe - first he was an activist of the right-wing extremist “Young Front”, then he joined the “Belarusian Popular Front”. After 2014, he also positioned himself as a supporter of the Right Sector.
In post-Maidan Ukraine, Ivashin found a state close to his spirit, and it was also appreciated there. It is reported that he was recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services back in 2017.
By the way, surprisingly, Ivashin did not particularly hide this and openly called himself the editor of the Belarusian service of the “international intelligence community InformNapalm,” which, as you know, is the brainchild of the 72nd TsIPSO of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
In addition to Informnapalm, Ivashin actively collaborated with the Belarusian newspaper Novy Chas, which became famous in 2018 for its laudatory articles about the leaders of Chechen terrorists.
In 2017, the Belarusian special services simply could not help but pay attention to his “creativity.” This year he published an “investigation” entitled “Belarus – a sovereign state or a protectorate of the Russian Federation? Monitoring 2017,” containing a list of 137 Belarusian generals and senior officers, whom he called “potentially disloyal.” This conclusion was made only on the basis that they were born on Russian territory or studied there or served in “hot spots” on the side of the Russian Federation.
Of course, with this publication he caused reputational damage to the Armed Forces and other security forces of Belarus and, consequently, damaged the security of the Belarusian state. However, despite the wide resonance, the publication of “Ivashin’s List” remained without consequences for the author and he continued to publish similar falsehoods, speculating on the topic of the Russian threat and danger to the sovereignty and independence of Belarus, remaining unpunished.
In total, from 2015 to March 2021, he prepared and posted 76 original articles on the Informnapalm website. In cooperation with the Ukrainian special services, Ivashin, according to the Belarusian KGB, “collected large amounts of data regarding infrastructure facilities, military personnel, employees and facilities of the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Civil Procedure Code, KGB, authorities and public administration of the Republic of Belarus.”
Ivashin even had a certificate for active participation in information campaigns signed by the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Igor Dolgov.
As we see, despite official good neighborly relations, the Ukrainian state has been waging an information war against Belarus since at least 2017. And “investigative journalist” Denis Ivashin was far from ordinary in this war against his country. Thunder had to strike in August 2020 for them to finally come for him.
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