SBI Opens Case Over Butusov's Publication of Howitzer Firing Video

Oleksiy Arestovych said Butusov could be killed.

The State Bureau of Investigation has opened criminal proceedings over journalist Yuriy Butusov's publication of a video showing howitzer firing. 

On November 27, Butusov published a video which, he said, was filmed 'a very long time ago' during training exercises of territorial defense units in one of Ukraine's regions 'in strict compliance with applicable conventions and bans'. 

On November 28, the SBI said it would examine the journalist's video as part of the opened criminal proceedings. The agency noted that in the video Butusov fires a 152 mm 'D-20 howitzer' while saying 'fire at the occupiers'. 

SBI representatives believe that publishing such materials 'harms the information security of the Ukrainian state and allows representatives of the aggressor state to increase pressure on Ukraine'. They added that, according to preliminary findings, the event took place outside the JFO zone. 

Later, the SBI clarified that the criminal case is not opened against Butusov, but over the fact indicated in his publication. The subject of the investigation is establishing the circumstances of who allowed a civilian access to weapons and under what conditions. 

'All circumstances of the publication and recording of the cannon-firing video described by Yuriy Butusov will be checked. This includes under Article 414 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Violation of rules for handling weapons, as well as substances and objects posing increased danger to others) and Article 437 of the Criminal Code (Planning, preparation, unleashing and waging of an aggressive war). Possible official misconduct by those who allowed a civilian access to the relevant weaponry will also be checked,' the SBI said. 

The Defense Ministry commented on Butusov's video and categorically condemned 'the publication of any materials that could endanger the lives of our soldiers and Ukraine's information security'. 

The ministry said that, on the instructions of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, a check has begun into possible violations of official duties and weapons-handling rules by officials. 

'Against the backdrop of our Western partners constantly warning of a high likelihood of escalation in Ukraine, and our intelligence data on Russian troops along the Ukrainian border matching, the Russian Federation is looking for the slightest pretext for provocations and for implementing its intentions. The description of this video provided by the author is written in a way that allows this publication to be used precisely as a pretext to complicate the situation in the areas of the JFO operation and to accuse Ukraine of violating agreements on withdrawing weapons and of lacking control over weapons in the troops,' the Defense Ministry said. 

It is noted that publishing such videos in this context is another example of how, consciously or unconsciously, one can side with Ukraine's enemies in the information confrontation. 

Butusov himself believes that President Volodymyr Zelensky took revenge on him this way 'for his shameful press conference'. 

Yuriy Butusov
journalist

The SBI is under the control of people in Zelensky's circle through one of the leaders of the crackdown on the Maidan protests, Oleh Tatarov, a loyal protege of Andriy Portnov and Andriy Yermak. On the eighth anniversary of the dispersal of the Maidan on November 29, 2013, Tatarov and Yermak made a brilliant gift to Russian propaganda by trying to condemn a journalist who has been writing about the Maidan and the war since the first day. Zelensky's interests in my case completely coincided with the interests of Portnov, Tatarov, Russian propaganda and their agents in Ukraine. I think that now the coordination of actions by the Presidential Office, the security forces and Russian influence can be considered proven.

He said he does not intend to leave the country. 'Everything I have said about Russian agents in Zelensky's circle is the pure truth, and I can prove it, while the texts and cases through which the Office is trying to shut me down are systematic lies in the interests of our enemy,' the journalist said. 

Recall that on November 26, during a meeting between Zelensky and journalists, the president called Butusov a man who worked for oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi. According to him, the journalist was offended because he did not receive a post at the Defense Ministry. 

According to Zelensky, after Butusov's publication about the use of a drone in Donbas, militants began attacking and dropping bombs on defenders' positions: 'Blood of people is on your conscience. After that, do you know how many attacks and bombs dropped by drones there were on us?'.  

Butusov replied that Zelensky should be ashamed and that the president is shifting his responsibility onto others. 

State protection for Butusov

Oleksiy Arestovych, press secretary of the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbas and an unofficial adviser to the head of the Presidential Office, said Butusov could be killed, so he will ask for state protection to be provided to the journalist. 

According to Arestovych, Butusov is 'not entirely adequate', since 'no one in their right mind would allow themselves to talk like that to the president of the country' at the press conference. 

Yermak's adviser is confident that Butusov is no longer a journalist but a 'black propagandist' who is 'being very effectively indoctrinated psychologically', as shown by the 'shooting story' over which a criminal case was opened. 

Oleksiy Arestovych
press secretary of the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbas

Butusov is being set up as a sacred victim, they have already planned him as the next Gongadze. At this rate, he has very little time left, days at most weeks. They will eliminate him, those who are indoctrinating him. And this, according to the plan, will be the signal for the start of mass riots, with the sincere outrage of citizens. And all this against the backdrop of the concentration of Russian troops on the border. Is the scenario clear? An ideal playing field for Russia. Internal protests, political crisis, attack, good luck. I will urgently ask for state protection to be provided to Yuriy Butusov. The fool has long needed rescuing. 

Arestovych noted that he specifically 'voiced this as a possible scenario' so that 'the directors of this show' would find it harder to carry it out. He stated that Butusov formally 'can no longer be considered a journalist from the point of view of professional ethics', and that the journalistic ethics commission should assess his actions. 

The adviser to the head of the Presidential Office stated: 'If a journalist has had his photo taken with a weapon or in uniform with a patch, he has taken a side and can no longer be a journalist and cover events in the conflict'.