'We've already gotten many': Ukraine top spy admits agents murdered high-profile Russian personalities

In a bombshell admission, Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR) chief General Kirill Budanov has claimed responsibility for assassinating “many” Russians including high-profile public and media personalities.

According to a Russia Today report, citing Budanov’s interview with Ukrainian blogger Sergey Ivanov on Tuesday, when the spy boss was asked if high-profile Russian media figures such as Vladimir Solovyov or RT’s Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan are prime targets, he said that the GUR had already “gotten” multiple high profile targets.

“We have already gotten many, including public and media personalities,” Budanov said, without revealing names.

On the question over involvement of the GUR in the assassination of journalist Darya Dugina, the daughter of Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, or the recent car bombing of author and political activist Zakhar Prilepin, Budanov said he could “neither confirm nor deny” the involvement of his service.

Clear admission of wrongdoing: Moscow

Meanwhile, Moscow condemned the remarks made by Budanov with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying that they were a clear admission of wrongdoing.

“Terrorists. Those who provide excuses for the Kiev regime and sponsor it are accomplices of terrorists,” Russia Today quoted Zakharova as writing wrote on Telegram.

“Will the UN not notice that again?” she asked.

In an interview to Yahoo News last week, when asked whether the GUR had anything to do with last year’s murder of Darya Dugina, Budanov had boasted that “we’ve been killing Russians”.

“And will keep killing Russians anywhere on the face of this world until the complete victory of Ukraine,” Budanov had said.

Dismissing accusations of engaging in terrorism, Budanov stated that what Russia calls “terrorism, we call liberation.”

The pledge received a sharp response from Russia, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying that Ukraine had de-facto turned into a “state-sponsor of terrorism”.

He also added that despite their explosive nature, the remarks by Budanov did not face any criticism from Kiev’s Western sponsors.

“The statement is unprecedented in its essence. And of course, it will be strange not to hear any words of condemnation from European capitals and from Washington. Logic says it’s impossible to do without condemnation,” Peskov was quoted as saying by Russia Today.

With inputs from agencies

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