Kyiv: A former Ukrainian banker and spy who attended negotiations with President Putin’s delegation in Belarus has been killed amid reports that he was a double agent for the Russians.
Denis Kireyev, 45, a Ukrainian intelligence agent, took part in failed talks with Russia in the Belarusian city of Gomel last week before being killed later in the week, with conflicting accounts of his death.
According to the first reports of his death, Kireyev was shot dead by the Ukrainian domestic security service, the SBU, after a wiretapping counter-espionage operation. In this account, the alleged double agent for the Russian GRU military intelligence service tried to escape arrest for treason after passing secrets to the Russians during talks.
According to Ukrayinska Pravda and Obozrevatel, he was shot and killed by SBU officers.
This disturbing revelation was shared on the social media platform i.e., Telegram by Alexander Dubinsky, an ex-deputy of the Verkhovna Rada.
As per Alexander Dubinsky, a member in discussions with the Russian Federation was slain by the SBU (Ukraine’s Security Service of Ukraine), who was accused of “treason.”
Oleksandr Dubinsky, a member of the Verkhovna Rada, was the first to disclose this, but other accounts surfaced. There is yet no formal verification of what occurred.
Denis Kireyev was a banker who rose to prominence in Ukraine as a result of his involvement in national and international enterprise, as well as a financier who has held senior positions at Sberbank and Ukreximbank.
Besides, he had almost 20 years of experience working with Western financial institutions such as Citibank, Credit Lyonnais, ING, and Rabobank. Kireyev previously worked at SCM Finance as Deputy General Director before joining the Austrian firm GROUP SLAV AG Klyuyev.
Denis Kireyev held the role of Deputy General Director of SCM Finance from 2006 until 2008.
Then there was the Austrian firm GROUP SLAV AG Klyuev in Vienna. At the same time, Kireyev served on the Ukreximbank Supervisory Board from 2006 to 2012.
Moreover, he served as First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Oschadbank underneath the Klyuev quota from 2010 until 2014. He was in charge of two private funds: a private equity fund and a fixed income fund.
Per the Ukrayinska Pravda and other Ukrainian news sites, he was accused of high treason, citing security officials and lawmakers.
The SBU possessed significant evidence of Kireyev’s treachery, notable recordings of telephone conversations, as per Ukrayinska Pravda. Kireyev took part in the initial round of talks between Ukraine and Russia.
Kireyev allegedly had “unrestricted access to the SBU chief’s office, Ivan Bakanov, and the Ministry of Defense’s Main Intelligence Directorate, Kirill Budanov.”