Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valeriy Zaluzhny, reacts for the first time to the discovery of a listening device in one of his offices. A meeting was supposed to take place there.
Valeriy Zaluzhny reported this to the “RBK-Ukraine” publication.
“I’ll tell you this: this is the room I was supposed to use today. During the inspection yesterday, they found (the listening device — Ed.)”, he confirmed.
Zaluzhny added that the office was not his permanent place of stay. “I have several places where I work. And in one of them, this happened. I haven’t been there for a long time. We checked and found it”, the general clarified.
He noted that the listening device was found not only in his office. When asked if this could mean that someone in the General Staff itself could have committed such an act, Zaluzhny stated, “No, we haven’t used ears for a long time”.
The Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine considers the incident “as a war.” “Anything is possible. The investigation will prove what happened”, he said.
Zaluzhny also revealed that he was supposed to go to the respective office on the morning of December 18 at 07:00 and entered it after the inspection.
Responding to questions about whether there could have been classified information discussed, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine added, “This room was used before, but there was a significant break. So it was just being prepared for my meeting, probably”.
Recall that on Monday, December 18, the Security Service of Ukraine opened a criminal investigation into the discovery of a technical device in one of the potential locations of the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valeriy Zaluzhny. According to preliminary data, the discovered device was in non-working condition. No information storage devices or means of remotely transmitting audio recordings were found. This technical device will be sent for examination.
Photo: Getty Images
