KYIV — Ukraine’s military said Monday that listening devices had been found in offices of the country’s top commanding general, Valery Zaluzhny, and other military officials, but did not indicate who might have placed the bugs, or what conversations might have been surreptitiously recorded.
The military statement, made in a Facebook post, came one day after Ukrainian media reported that Zaluzhny’s “office” had been bugged and the country’s security service, the SBU, said it opened a criminal investigation into the incident.
Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces Valeriy Zaluzhny, front, attends an event for marking Statehood Day in Mykhailivska Square in Kyiv on July 28. Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP
“Yesterday, during a routine inspection of the premises, elements of equipment for recording information were discovered,” the general staff of the Ukrainian military wrote in the post. “Listening devices were installed in offices designated for the work of the commander in chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and employees of his office.”
The general staff also did not say how long the devices were believed to be in Zaluzhny’s office before they were found.
On Monday, Zaluzhny, speaking to journalists, said that a wiretap was found in one of “several places” where he worked. “This is the room I was supposed to use today,” he said in a video posted on the website of RBC, a Ukrainian news outlet. “I haven’t been there for a long time.”
Zaluzhny said that he had previously worked in the room where the device was found, but the period between then and today was a “significant.”
“They were probably preparing for my meeting,” he said. He did not provide any further details about his work day or with whom he planned to meet.
On Sunday evening, the SBU said in a post on Telegram that it was opening a criminal investigation. The listening device “was not found directly in Valery Zaluzhny’s office, but in one of the rooms that could be used by him for work in the future,” the intelligence agency said.
“According to preliminary data, the discovered device was in a nonworking state,” the SBU said, and “no means of accumulating information or means of remote transmission of audio recordings were found.”
Ukrainian inner-military circles have been targeted previously – possibly by Russian special services. Last month, Kyiv officials said that Marianna Budanova, the wife of Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, had been poisoned with heavy metals.
Budanova, who had been living with her husband at intelligence headquarters, was hospitalized and underwent treatment following a lengthy illness, authorities said.
Tensions have risen in recent weeks between Zaluzhny and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, after Zaluzhny said in an interview with the Economist that the war with Russia had reached a “stalemate” and that “there will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough” for Ukraine on the front line like in successful counteroffensives last year.
Zelensky publicly contradicted Zaluzhny’s remarks, and later ordered changes to the country’s military leadership – replacing the commanders of special forces and medical forces, in a move that bypassed Zaluzhny even though both commanders reported to him.
Former deputy defense minister Hanna Maliar said in a Telegram post on Monday that there was a persistent risk of surveillance and interception of conversations among military officials.
“Everyone is aware that there is a possibility of wiretapping and leakage of information,” Maliar wrote. “Therefore, this is always taken into account when communicating by voice.” She added that sometimes, indeed, conversations were overheard. “Secret information is leaked from headquarters – yes,” she wrote. “Military secrets have become public more than once.”
Serhiy Morgunov contributed to this report.
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