How FSB Officer Oleh Kulynych Became Head of the SBU in Crimea

From 1989 to 1994, he studied at the FSB Academy of Russia and served in the Federal Counterintelligence Service of the Russian Federation.

Volodymyr Boiko wrote about this on his Facebook page.

On April 20, 2021, Ukrainian People's Deputy from the “wedding photographers faction” Maksym Buzhansky appealed to Volodymyr Zelensky, the State Bureau of Investigation, the Ministry of Justice and the relevant parliamentary committee, asking them to investigate the appointment of Oleh Kulynych as head of the Main Directorate of the SBU in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Kulynych studied at the FSB Academy of Russia from 1989 to 1994 and served in the Federal Counterintelligence Service of the Russian Federation.

Back on October 22, 2020, as soon as Kulynych was appointed head of the Main Directorate of the SBU in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea by an incapacitated president's decree, I explained on the Naspravdi.today website why this strange personnel decision was made.

Oleh Kulynych is a trusted associate of former Ukrainian People's Deputy Volodymyr Sivkovich, who represented the interests of the FSB in Ukraine and is now hiding in Russia. Kulynych was supposed to enter the SBU as first deputy chairman as early as the summer of 2019. In this way, Bakanov promised to settle accounts with Sivkovich and Arbuzov (in case anyone has forgotten, there was a Prime Minister of Ukraine under Yanukovych who is now hiding abroad) for paying for Bakanov's trip to the United States in April 2019 and for the services of American lobbyists.

The future SBU lieutenant fell into financial dependence on Sivkovich and Arbuzov as follows. Preparing, between the first and second rounds of the US presidential election, to tell people about the merits of the future president Zelensky, then head of the “Servant of the People” party and director of LLC “Kvartal 95” Ivan Bakanov came up with nothing better than to turn to the small-time swindler Markus Cohen, so that he would hire a lobbying company in the US and finance the trip. Cohen found such a company: it was Signal Group Consulting LLC, which received $70,000 for its work, consisting of a $60,000 fee and $10,000 to reimburse expenses incurred. Cohen later stated that this was his personal money, since he was so charmed by the future president of Ukraine that he decided to do him a favor.

But in fact this was money from Sivkovich and Arbuzov, and not $70,000 but $2 million, which is exactly what Markus Cohen took from these “white guards”, promising that as soon as Zelensky became president, all criminal cases investigated in Ukraine over the antics of these two statesmen would be closed. The guarantee that Bakanov would keep this promise was supposed to be the appointment of Kulynych as first deputy chairman of the SBU.

But soon two embarrassments occurred. First, when Signal Group Consulting LLC published a report on its work in the summer of 2019, Zelensky's team categorically denied that lobbyists had arranged Bakanov's trip. It turned out that Bakanov, when he approached Cohen, did not know that the US is not Ukraine, and across the ocean lobbying firms such as the Anti-Corruption Action Centre headed by Vitaliy Shabunin must publicly account for every cent received from foreigners. Second, the money from Sivkovich and Arbuzov was received by Cohen's law firm. But at the last moment it turned out that this firm could only pay the lobbyists, but had no right to pay for the trip itself. And so Bakanov's voyage was paid for by Arbuzov directly from his own account.

However, Bakanov's trip overseas went somewhat differently than planned. In addition, Bakanov took offense at Cohen for failing to warn the future head of the SBU about the specifics of American law, which does not allow lobbyists to conceal information about their clients. Because of this, Kulynych never received the promised appointment, although for some time in the summer of 2019 he strutted around the Central Directorate of the SBU and issued instructions in his capacity as first deputy chairman. But the debt remained, and in October 2020 Bakanov settled accounts with Sivkovich and Arbuzov in exactly this way, by slipping Zelensky a decree for signature appointing the charlatan Kulynych, who is beyond redemption, as head of the Main Directorate of the SBU in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.