{"id":13002,"date":"2018-04-21T20:22:53","date_gmt":"2018-04-21T20:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/?p=13002"},"modified":"2018-04-23T06:42:36","modified_gmt":"2018-04-23T06:42:36","slug":"russian-ministry-of-defense-representative-was-lying-in-his-rebuttal-to-sbu-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/russian-ministry-of-defense-representative-was-lying-in-his-rebuttal-to-sbu-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian Ministry of Defense representative was lying in his rebuttal to SBU report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.ru\/politics\/18\/04\/2018\/5ad755b39a79470b5d3b96e2\">attempt<\/a> to deny the report by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) regarding the deployment of PMC \u201cWagner\u201d\u00a0mercenaries\u00a0on \u201cVaryag\u201d guided missile cruiser to Syria by the official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Major-General Igor Konashenkov was a public lie.<\/p>\n<p>This is the conclusion made by the volunteers of the InformNapalm international intelligence community, who analyzed Konashenkov\u2019s statement published by Russian media and compared his arguments with the data published in the interrogation and the information on combat deployments of \u201cVaryag\u201d that previously appeared in open sources.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2018\/04\/n_4653_25893088.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>To refute the statements by a former contract sailor <strong>Nikolay Kovalenko,<\/strong> who served on \u201cVaryag\u201d in 2015-2017, and released by SBU on April 18, the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry tried to distort the sailor\u2019s words.\u00a0<em>&#8220;\u201dVaryag\u201d guided missile cruiser has never called to Syria\u2019s Tartus, as there are no suitable docking facilities for the port call and mooring of warships of such tonnage&#8221;<\/em>, said Konashenkov.<\/p>\n<p>However, in the interrogation video, the sailor did not say that the cruiser had entered the port of Tartus. At 01:48, he says this about PMC Wagner mercenaries: <em>&#8220;In the vicinity of the port of Tartus, <\/em><strong><em>boats came at night<\/em><\/strong><em>, people unloaded with their cargo and nobody saw them anymore.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The video of the interrogation from the website of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssu.gov.ua\/ua\/news\/1\/category\/21\/view\/4653\">Security service of Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"978\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SWAYZdwU17g?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>An extended video of the interview by the Kharkiv News TV channel<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"978\" height=\"734\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EnvXg76XQS8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Going back to Konashenkov\u2019s statement, there is other evidence that his response was a lie.<\/p>\n<p>In February 2017, TV channel \u201cNastoyashcheye Vremya\u201d (Present Time) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.currenttime.tv\/a\/28326865.html\">published a report and an interview<\/a> with the mother of a Russian sailor Vladislav Shalaev, who served under contract on \u201cVaryag\u201d and died four days after returning from a deployment to the shores of Syria.<\/p>\n<p>The most interesting part of interview is the description by the mother of the deceased sailor of large groups of people filling up the cruiser\u2019s crew quarters, sleeping in four-level bunks and sometimes right on the floor. This suggests that as it was heading to Syria, \u201cVaryag\u201d was carrying as many passengers as it could fit. This picture fully matches the words of the sailor Nikolay Kovalenko.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, the SBU <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssu.gov.ua\/ua\/news\/1\/category\/2\/view\/4660\">quickly responded to Konashenkov\u2019s statement<\/a> by publishing the personnel lists of Wagner fighters, who were taken to Syria on \u201cVaryag\u201d. The SBU said, <em>&#8220;If the Russian Ministry of Defense has \u2018difficulties\u2019 finding exact personal data and residency of the aforementioned RF citizens from among Wagner&#8217;s &#8220;ikhtamnets\u201d (\u201cthose who aren\u2019t there\u201d) in order to charge them with the crime of mercenary, the SBU is ready to publish this information to convey the truth to the Russian citizens and eliminate the &#8216;ignorance&#8217; of the senior officers of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It should be noted that Konashenkov&#8217;s statement isn&#8217;t the first lie by high-ranking Russian officials and a failed attempt at falsification and manipulation.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/ua\/minoborony-rosiyi-i-zganbylosya-cherez-skandalnyj-fejk\/\">In November 2017<\/a>, the Ministry of Defense of Russia published falsified evidence, calling it an &#8220;irrefutable confirmation&#8221; of the American support to ISIS fighters.<\/p>\n<p>And in June 2017, even Russian President Vladimir Putin himself was caught with a fake. In Oliver Stone\u2019s documentary, he said, &#8220;These are our guys&#8221;, showing a video where an American AH-64 Apache helicopter attacked Taliban fighters. In a symbolic move, for the audio track, the fake\u2019s authors chose to use the conversations of Ukrainian MI-24 helicopter pilots successfully attacking Russian militants in the first battle of the Russian-Ukrainian war at Donetsk airport.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, the representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Major-General Igor Konashenkov simply continues the &#8216;traditions&#8217; of high-ranking Russian officials and the mantra &#8220;IkhTamNet&#8221; or \u201cIkhTamNeBylo\u201d (\u201cthey are not there\u201d, \u201cthey were not there\u201d) is still in use today.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Read other research of PMC Wagner by InformNapalm:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/failed-offensive-at-deir-ezzor-was-planned-by-wagner-pmc-chief-of-operations-sergei-kim\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Failed offensive at Deir Ezzor was planned by Wagner PMC Chief of Operations Sergei Kim<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/tankmen-of-the-wagner-pmc-25-mercenaries-identified\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tankmen of Wagner PMC in the service of Russia from Donbas to Syria \u2013 25 mercenaries identified <\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/artillerymen-wagner-pmc-service-russia-donbas-syria-20-mercenaries-operating-2s1-howitzers-identified\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Artillerymen of Wagner PMC in the service of Russia from Donbas to Syria \u2013 20 mercenaries operating 2S1 howitzers identified<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/pulp-fiction-of-pmc-wagner-murderers-drug-addicts-and-rapists-in-putin-s-service\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pulp Fiction of PMC \u201cWagner\u201d: Murderers, Drug Addicts and Rapists in Putin\u2019s Service<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/08\/InformNapalm_logo_05.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-8997 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/08\/InformNapalm_logo_05.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"98\" height=\"45\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/burkonews\">Roman Burko<\/a>\u00a0specially for InformNapalm<\/em><\/h5>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Translated by Andrii Gryganskyi, edited by Max Alginin<\/em><\/h5>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>(<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\"><strong>Creative Commons \u2014 Attribution 4.0 International \u2014 CC BY 4.0<\/strong><\/a>)<\/em><\/h5>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Please repost and share! It is important!<\/em><\/h5>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>For notifications about InformNapalm investigations follow us on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/informnapalm24\/\"><strong>Facebook<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\/ \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/InformNapalm\"><strong>Twitter<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\/<\/em><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The attempt to deny the report by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) regarding the deployment of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":13004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[528,531,532],"tags":[725,183,4215],"class_list":["post-13002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-syria","category-world","tag-russian-ministry-of-defense","tag-sbu","tag-wagner-pmc"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - 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At 01:48, he says this about PMC Wagner mercenaries: <em>\"In the vicinity of the port of Tartus, <\/em><strong><em>boats came at night<\/em><\/strong><em>, people unloaded with their cargo and nobody saw them anymore.\"<\/em>\r\n\r\nThe video of the interrogation from the website of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssu.gov.ua\/ua\/news\/1\/category\/21\/view\/4653\">Security service of Ukraine<\/a>.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/SWAYZdwU17g\r\n\r\nAn extended video of the interview by the Kharkiv News TV channel\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/EnvXg76XQS8\r\n\r\nGoing back to Konashenkov\u2019s statement, there is other evidence that his response was a lie.\r\n\r\nIn February 2017, TV channel \u201cNastoyashcheye Vremya\u201d (Present Time) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.currenttime.tv\/a\/28326865.html\">published a report and an interview<\/a> with the mother of a Russian sailor Vladislav Shalaev, who served under contract on \u201cVaryag\u201d and died four days after returning from a deployment to the shores of Syria.\r\n\r\nThe most interesting part of interview is the description by the mother of the deceased sailor of large groups of people filling up the cruiser\u2019s crew quarters, sleeping in four-level bunks and sometimes right on the floor. This suggests that as it was heading to Syria, \u201cVaryag\u201d was carrying as many passengers as it could fit. This picture fully matches the words of the sailor Nikolay Kovalenko.\r\n\r\nNotably, the SBU <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssu.gov.ua\/ua\/news\/1\/category\/2\/view\/4660\">quickly responded to Konashenkov\u2019s statement<\/a> by publishing the personnel lists of Wagner fighters, who were taken to Syria on \u201cVaryag\u201d. The SBU said, <em>\"If the Russian Ministry of Defense has \u2018difficulties\u2019 finding exact personal data and residency of the aforementioned RF citizens from among Wagner's \"ikhtamnets\u201d (\u201cthose who aren\u2019t there\u201d) in order to charge them with the crime of mercenary, the SBU is ready to publish this information to convey the truth to the Russian citizens and eliminate the 'ignorance' of the senior officers of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.\"<\/em>\r\n\r\nIt should be noted that Konashenkov's statement isn't the first lie by high-ranking Russian officials and a failed attempt at falsification and manipulation.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/ua\/minoborony-rosiyi-i-zganbylosya-cherez-skandalnyj-fejk\/\">In November 2017<\/a>, the Ministry of Defense of Russia published falsified evidence, calling it an \"irrefutable confirmation\" of the American support to ISIS fighters.\r\n\r\nAnd in June 2017, even Russian President Vladimir Putin himself was caught with a fake. In Oliver Stone\u2019s documentary, he said, \"These are our guys\", showing a video where an American AH-64 Apache helicopter attacked Taliban fighters. In a symbolic move, for the audio track, the fake\u2019s authors chose to use the conversations of Ukrainian MI-24 helicopter pilots successfully attacking Russian militants in the first battle of the Russian-Ukrainian war at Donetsk airport.\r\n\r\nTherefore, the representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Major-General Igor Konashenkov simply continues the 'traditions' of high-ranking Russian officials and the mantra \"IkhTamNet\" or \u201cIkhTamNeBylo\u201d (\u201cthey are not there\u201d, \u201cthey were not there\u201d) is still in use today.\r\n<h2><strong>Read other research of PMC Wagner by InformNapalm:<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/failed-offensive-at-deir-ezzor-was-planned-by-wagner-pmc-chief-of-operations-sergei-kim\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Failed offensive at Deir Ezzor was planned by Wagner PMC Chief of Operations Sergei Kim<\/a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/tankmen-of-the-wagner-pmc-25-mercenaries-identified\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tankmen of Wagner PMC in the service of Russia from Donbas to Syria \u2013 25 mercenaries identified <\/a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/artillerymen-wagner-pmc-service-russia-donbas-syria-20-mercenaries-operating-2s1-howitzers-identified\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Artillerymen of Wagner PMC in the service of Russia from Donbas to Syria \u2013 20 mercenaries operating 2S1 howitzers identified<\/a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/pulp-fiction-of-pmc-wagner-murderers-drug-addicts-and-rapists-in-putin-s-service\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pulp Fiction of PMC \u201cWagner\u201d: Murderers, Drug Addicts and Rapists in Putin\u2019s Service<\/a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/08\/InformNapalm_logo_05.png\"><img class=\" wp-image-8997 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2016\/08\/InformNapalm_logo_05.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"98\" height=\"45\" \/><\/a>\r\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/burkonews\">Roman Burko<\/a>\u00a0specially for InformNapalm<\/em><\/h5>\r\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Translated by Andrii Gryganskyi, edited by Max Alginin<\/em><\/h5>\r\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>(<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\"><strong>Creative Commons \u2014 Attribution 4.0 International \u2014 CC BY 4.0<\/strong><\/a>)<\/em><\/h5>\r\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Please repost and share! It is important!<\/em><\/h5>\r\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>For notifications about InformNapalm investigations follow us on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/informnapalm24\/\"><strong>Facebook<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\/ \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/InformNapalm\"><strong>Twitter<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\/<\/em><\/h5>","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13002"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13008,"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13002\/revisions\/13008"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/informnapalm.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}