Video shows abduction of RDK officer amid SBU-HUR conflict
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On August 23, Stepan Kaplunov, a member of the RDK, was detained by men who identified themselves as police officers (Photo: Video screenshot / Radio NV)
Radio NV has obtained video footage of the Aug. 23 abduction in Kyiv of Stepan Kaplunov, deputy commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), an incident that later led to a Sept. 2 shootout between officers of Ukraine's SBU Security Service and the Defense Intelligence (HUR).
The footage shows three men knocking Kaplunov to the ground before forcing him into a black SUV.
Kaplunov can be heard on the video asking his captors not to press on his head, saying he had been wounded.
"Guys, I'm 300 [military slang for 'wounded in action'], don't press on my head, I'm a soldier," he says.
In an interview with NV, the deputy commander of the RDK — a unit under HUR — said the men who detained him identified themselves as police officers.
"I understand, more or less, how investigative procedures and detentions normally work, how a person is immediately charged under specific legal articles," he said.
“But I was simply shoved into a black BMW — to put it bluntly, this was a straightforward abduction. I wasn't shown any documents or charges, they just put me in a black car and drove off.”
After that, Kaplunov said, he was taken to what he described as a "secret prison" or "restricted facility," where he was interrogated about alleged ties to Russia's FSB Security Service. He said that after several days of pressure, he "fully agreed" with the claim that he had ties to the Russian intelligence agency.
"As I understand it, the goal was most likely to discredit [Ukraine's Defense Intelligence] special unit Tymur, including our commander directly — Tymur himself," Kaplunov said.
He said he later came to understand that those who had detained and interrogated him were officers of Ukraine's Security Service.
On Sept. 2, the SBU claimed it had worked together with HUR to prevent an assassination attempt by Russia's FSB against a leader of the Russian opposition movement, without specifying a name. According to media reports, that person was Kaplunov. The SBU later clarified that during a search connected to the assassination-attempt case, a group of individuals affiliated with Ukraine's Defense Forces attacked its officers. The SBU's Alpha special unit used weapons in response, resulting in injuries among the attackers. Media reports described a conflict between the SBU and HUR that led to the shootout on Shumskoho Street in Kyiv's Berezniaky microdistrict on Sept. 2.
The Prosecutor General's Office has opened a criminal case over an attempt on the life of law enforcement officers.
For its part, the commander of HUR's special unit Tymur, which includes the Russian Volunteer Corps, said SBU officers "abducted [the unit's] combat commander in broad daylight" without filing official charges.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later called the incident "absolutely shameful" and said the heads of the security services must make personnel decisions regarding those involved in the Kyiv shooting, as well as carry out the necessary internal investigations within both agencies. The same day, a presidential decree was issued dismissing senior SBU official Oleh Khramov.
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