President of Ukraine runs to protect himself at the front 5:30
(CNN) -
Ukraine's opposition politicians have demanded an immediate investigation into how a special operation to catch suspected Russian war criminals failed after Belarus arrested the men in Minsk last year.
These new calls come after an exclusive CNN investigation in which former senior Ukrainian military intelligence officials described attempts to trap suspected war criminals outside of Russia to face prosecution for acts of violence committed in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting for years.
CNN sources detailed and provided evidence that Russians arrested in Belarus last year were the target of this elaborate intelligence operation, with the knowledge and support of the United States, something that US officials deny.
But the Russians were never sent to Ukraine.
The arrests prematurely ended the planned operation, Ukrainian officials told CNN.
In the Ukrainian parliament on Thursday there was a brief brawl and noisy scenes as opposition deputies raised banners accusing government figures of being responsible for the failure of the operation.
One sign read "Time to name the traitors of Ukraine" and another sign read "We demand the truth."
On Wednesday, Mikhail Podoliak, an adviser to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky's office, dismissed the CNN report, questioning the use of anonymous sources.
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"As usual, the usual anonymous retirees - and this is key - confirm something. Another anonymous source denies something. Once again: anonymous, no last name, no position and, therefore, sources that have no informative and reputational value" Podoliak told Ukrainian state media Ukrinform.
Podoliak also pointed to a statement from Russia's Federal Security Services (FSB) on Wednesday that said the CNN report offered "new evidence" that Ukrainian secret services interfere in Moscow's internal affairs.
"When did the FSB official appear in the media almost instantly to support and praise a report? In fact, this is a signal for the entire Russian propaganda system, about what to do and how to work. Now they will 'disperse' this story with reference to CNN, "Podoliak said.
But speaking in the Ukrainian parliament on Thursday, an opposition politician, Iryna Herashchenko of the European Solidarity Party, accused the presidential office of mishandling the situation by saying that "CNN is spreading lies and hoaxes, and accusing them of cooperating. with the FSB ".
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"Let me remind you," Herashchenko added, "Zelensky was at the front with the same CNN correspondent. So it turns out that Zelensky brought the FSB agents to the front so they could film information about our army there. It doesn't match," he said.
CNN's Matthew Chance gained unprecedented access to Zelensky on the front line in eastern Ukraine earlier this year as Russia was concentrating near the border region.
Herashchenko, who is a former journalist, accused Zelensky's office of censoring CNN's article in Ukraine and urged Ukrainian journalists to take note of the story to "honor" the Ukrainian army, which she said had been betrayed by the failure. of the operation.
CNN's Matthew Chance and Zahra Ullah reported in Moscow, and Katharina Krebs in London.
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