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Recordings of Poroshenko’s voice admitting involvement in sabotage in Crimea published

He said that the preparations happened during his visit to the Far East and that important steps were taken to make such situation impossible in the future
Former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko Anna Marchenko/TASS
Former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko
© Anna Marchenko/TASS

KIEV, July 9. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Verhovna Rada member Andrey Derkach published audio recordings of - as he claims - former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko admitting preparation of sabotages and terror attacks in Crimea by Ukrainian intelligence services in 2016.

On one audio recording, played at a press conference, a man, identified by Derkach as US ex-Vice President Joe Biden, harshly criticizes Ukraine’s attempts to conduct a sabotage in Crimea and demands that this never happens again.

In response, a man with Poroshenko’s voice claims that he was unaware of the operation and promises to conduct an investigation. He says that the preparations happened during his visit to the Far East and that important steps were taken to make such situation impossible in the future.

Then, he claims that he did not fire the Ukrainian military intelligence head right away so that it doesn’t appear like Ukraine’s acknowledgement of its responsibility.

On August 7, 2017, Russian intelligence services discovered a group of Ukrainian saboteurs, who sought to re-enter the Ukrainian territory by force. One Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officer and one Ministry of Defense serviceman were killed during the incident.

On the same day, two officers of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate were apprehended in Crimea. Criminal proceeding over charges of preparation of sabotage by an organized group was initiated against them. In February 2018, the spies were sentenced to eight and six years in prison.

Earlier, Derkach already published several audio recordings of - as he claims - Biden and Poroshenko. In early July, head of the Ukrainian Administration Andrey Yermak told The Washington Post that the authorities intend to introduce criminal penalties for publication of secretly taped conversations of the officials.