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Kyiv Security Chief Wanted By Moscow Details Killings Of Foes
By Anna MALPAS
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Ukraine's security service chief Vasyl Maliuk on Tuesday dismissed a Russian order to arrest him, after giving a television interview detailing extra-judicial killings of Kyiv's opponents in Russia.
Maliuk, 41, has headed Ukraine's SBU security service for just over a year. The service has claimed some attacks on opponents on Russian soil and occupied territory.
Moscow's Basmanny court on Tuesday issued an order to arrest Maliuk in absentia, as part of a probe into a deadly explosion in 2022 on Russia's bridge to annexed Crimea.
Russian FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov went further, urging the SBU be declared a terrorist organisation.
Maliuk derided Moscow's arrest order, saying it came from the Kremlin's "pocket judges".
"I, like all Ukrainians, am interested in only one court -- over their master Putler (President Vladimir Putin)," he wrote on Telegram.
"We are doing everything in our power to see this war criminal on the bench of The Hague court as soon as possible," he wrote on Telegram.
In an interview aired Monday evening on Ukraine's ICTV channel, Maliuk gave details of high-profile attacks on Kyiv's Russian opponents.
The interview came out as Russia accused Ukraine of masterminding Friday's attack on a Moscow concert hall, which killed at least 139.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility and Kyiv firmly denies any involvement.
Asked if the SBU was involved in the "liquidation" of Ukraine's foes, Maliuk told the interviewer: "We will not officially admit this but I'll tell you some details."
He went on to list methods used to kill or maim various opponents of the Ukrainian government in Russia and occupied territory.
"These and other bastards pay karmic debts to the Ukrainian people," he said.
He referred to pro-Kremlin Ukrainian politician, Illia Kyva, whose body was found in a Moscow suburb in December and whose killing was claimed by Kyiv.
Calling Kyva a "traitor", he said the gun used to kill him "was a 9x19 mm short-barrelled. It was a shot to the chest followed by a control shot to the head."
He also pointed to anti-Ukraine military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, blown up by a statuette handed to him in a cafe in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg.
A woman was sentenced to 27 years in prison in January for the attack in April 2023.
"There were 400 grams of thermobaric (explosive), it worked like a razor on him," Maliuk said.
He gave grim details on pro-Kremlin writer Zakhar Prilepin -- "a real war criminal" -- wounded in a car blast in Russia in May last year that killed his assistant.
"His pelvis and legs were badly injured and sorry, he was left without genitals," Maliuk said.
Prilepin was quick to respond on Telegram, however, calling Maliuk a "cretin" and offering to show his genitals to an intermediary.
Kyiv Security Chief Wanted By Moscow Details Killings Of Foes
Ukraine's security service chief Vasyl Maliuk on Tuesday dismissed a Russian order to arrest him, after giving a television interview detailing extra-judicial killings of Kyiv's opponents in Russia.
