Andriy Yermak handed MH17 witness Volodymyr Tsemah to Russia in September 2019, despite investigators’ objections, shocking Dutch and Australian authorities and raising corruption concerns.
Investigators of the Main Investigative Department of the SBU, violating the law on state secrets and the secrecy of investigations, explained to Yermak that they had gathered a significant amount of material indicating that Tsemah was an extremely valuable witness in the case of the MH17 plane shot down over Donetsk. Yermak was informed that there were recordings of Tsemah’s phone conversations with Russian handlers regarding how the “Buk” missile system was brought to a position near Snizhne, its subsequent operation, and the urgent evacuation along with the Russian crew to Russian territory after the missile was fired and hit a civilian aircraft.
This was reported by Valentyn Zelinchenko.
Yermak knew that Volodymyr Tsemah had refused to testify against himself or provide any information about the MH17 crash, and that work with him was necessary. Investigators requested that Tsemah not be exchanged at least until September, so they would have more time to obtain information from him. Yermak promised that there would be no exchange in order to obtain testimony on these matters, and only afterwards to include him in the exchange planned for December 2019.
However, on September 4, an order came from Bakanov to the Main Investigative Department of the SBU to prepare Tsemah for an exchange. All instructions were verbal and not documented anywhere, but Bakanov referred to Yermak. On September 7, Tsemah was handed over to Russia. This shocked law enforcement agencies in the Netherlands and Australia.
During a phone call, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told Zelenskyy: “You are bringing order to Ukraine, but you are engaged in international corruption, selling the interests of entire countries in the fight against the Russian Federation.”
The intelligence services of the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, and Malaysia — the countries participating in the Joint Investigation Team — wanted to know why Yermak insisted so strongly on not postponing Tsemah’s handover to Russia from September to December, which would have given investigators time to obtain information from the militant about Russia’s role in shooting down the Malaysian Boeing.
Australian intelligence found the answer. “Andriy Yermak reportedly received a bribe from the Russians around July 2019, amounting to tens of millions of dollars (about $40 million, according to informed sources) — for defending Russian interests in Ukraine, including regarding the Tsemah exchange,” said an Australian intelligence officer. He noted that this information sharply negatively affected perceptions, not so much of the presidential office as of Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself, whose promises to fight corruption turned out to be empty.
In any case, the valuable witness in the MH17 case, Tsemah, went to Russia and then back home to Snizhne. And, by a strange coincidence, a year later — with Yermak’s involvement again — due to the “leak” of the Wagner special operation, Ukraine lost two more potential witnesses in the Malaysian Boeing case: Denys Kharitonov and Serhiy Shcherbakov.
It should be recalled that during Tsemah’s arrest and transport to Kyiv, one SBU officer died, and another was seriously injured and became disabled.
Nikolai Sukhinskiy
