In a briefing Monday, ‘Servant of the People’ MP Maryana Bezugla who led the parliamentary probe argued the lawmakers failed to establish the reasons behind the delay and subsequent fiasco of the sting operation known as Wagnergate.
The commission has also failed to identify the officials who made a decision to put off the operation, said Bezugla, stressing their investigative effort found no evidence the Ukrainian president could have been to blame for the misstep.
Zelensky’s top aide Andriy Yermak in the scandal got a scant mention in the report as the ‘Servant of the People’ MP just glanced over his role in the scandal arguing he didn’t have authority to order intelligence to delay such operations.
Detention of the suspects by Belarus security service hampered the extradition although Ukraine’s law-enforcement and prosecutors’ offices ‘took all the necessary steps’ for it.
According to Bezugla, the commission failed to track down intelligence coordination between Minsk and Moscow though it alleges that the arrest of Russian mercenaries was a ‘predictable result of Belarus intelligence activities due to stepped-up counter intelligence efforts ahead of presidential elections [in Belarus]’.
The commission was established earlier this year in the wake of media reports that claimed the Ukraine’s intelligence plan to capture Russian mercenaries in Minsk suffered a setback due to last-minute delays and the information leak from Zelensky top officials.