Sinegubov: In Kharkov, the head of the SBU Dudin tried to seize power in the region during the first hours of the Russian invasion | PHOTO | VIDEO

The head of the Kharkiv region, Oleg Sinegubov, is sure that the then head of the SBU Department in the Kharkiv region, Roman Dudin, on February 24, 2022, immediately after the invasion of the Russian army, purposefully tried to seize power in the region. He stated this to «Suspilny«.

According to Sinegubov, on February 23, 2022, he already received orders from the military leadership and made certain decisions. In particular, measures to block the airport «Kharkov» to eliminate the possibility of landing.

On February 24 at 6:00 in the office of the chairman of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration on Sumskaya Street, 64, the first meeting began with the participation of Sinegubov, Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov and their deputies, at 8:00 – first selector with Office of the President.

«Somewhere between ten in the morning, and the next selector was supposed to take place at 12:00, Dudin, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, called me and asked me to check my office, because he had information that some Russian saboteurs had worked there &# 8212; just check cabinet. I said to Dudin: «Yes, please». I call the assistant, I say: & # 171; Run the security workers, they should check the office, or the special communications, he said to check more & # 187;. Five minutes later, this photo appeared on social networks», — said Sinegubov.

The head of the Regional State Administration noted that the SBU employees answered his assistant, who had the appropriate order to photograph the empty office.

«So what did they do? They turned off the light in the office, cleared the table. They took a picture of an empty office, an empty table, and posted it on social networks. My assistant came into the office and asked the employees of the Service what they were doing. They directly answered — we have such an order», — recalls Sinegubov.

The head of the Regional State Administration added that a few minutes later he and Terekhov returned to the office and found the secret service workers.

«Caught the same workers who left, a new batch of security service workers appeared. Motivating by order of Dudin, with the special unit «Alpha» with the use of force or the threat of the use of such force and special equipment, we were taken out of the office along with the mayor. By the way, in 15 minutes the third selector with the Office of the President, which was scheduled for 12, was already supposed to pass. Dudin did not pick up the phone all this time. I called him on the phone – he does not pick up the phone. After that, of course, I immediately informed the Prosecutor General, Mrs. Venediktova, then still about this event. Office of the President in full force, as well as Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Danilov. After that, a meeting was held with the President some time later, and the President ordered the Security Service team to leave the administration building»,— said Sinegubov.

He clarified that he then had a question whether it was just Dudin's erroneous decision and he did not understand something, or whether these were his specially planned actions. The head of the Regional State Administration is convinced that such actions by Dudin were planned to seize power in Kharkov and the region.

«Since I know that he gave orders regarding the Kharkov city council, but there the executors of these orders had the mind not to carry out criminal orders in advance. There is such a wording in jurisprudence. This attempt to seize power and remove the leadership of the region and the city from their duties is clearly not in favor of the defense of the city and region. I think, let people draw their own conclusions, in whose favor it was done», — Sinegubov emphasized.

He added that on February 24, the leadership of the OP already knew about the situation, operational measures were being taken and counterintelligence was working.

«From 24 to 25 February. The building is completely abandoned. The second floor is completely littered with ammunition – machine guns, shells, cartridges, RPG shells, grenade launchers and everything else. The gates to the courtyard are open, the doors to the SBU building are open»,— Sinegubov listed.

According to the head of the Regional State Administration, Dudin returned to Kharkiv on March 1. After all the events, the president made a personnel decision regarding the head of the SBU. Dudin himself does not admit his guilt.

«Photographing the office. I have never hidden that I really gave the command to post in Kharkiv messages that the situation in the city is controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the SBU and the National Police. From nine in the morning there was a crazy information attack in the city. Crazy informational pressure, that everyone fled, everyone surrendered. It was a demoralizing factor. To reassure people, I gave this command. Only this»,” Dudin said during the meeting.

He also confirmed that due to the threat of cordoning off the city at the beginning of a full-scale invasion, he evacuated most of the employees of the Kharkiv region SBU, leaving those who must perform tasks in the event of the occupation of the city. He himself went to Kyiv «by direct order of the head of the Security Service of Ukraine», according to Dudin – to protect the capital.

He called the criminal case against himself political persecution and a reason to remove the former head of the SBU from his post Ivan Bakanov.

• On September 11, 2022, the media reported Dudin's detention.
• The next day, the SBI confirmed Dudin's detention and gave details.