Zheleznyak announced that the owners of anonymous Telegram channels had been booked in by the SBU
Yaroslav Zheleznyak announced this on Telegram.
MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak stated that the owners of anonymous Telegram channels are being monitored by the Security Service of Ukraine.
According to him, he raised this issue during a meeting between parliamentary factions and the government, as well as the acting head of the SBU, Yevhen Khmara.
Zheleznyak wrote that the discussion concerned Telegram, and he asked his colleagues whether the owners of anonymous Telegram channels were still being ‘monitored’ by the SBU.
According to the MP, the head of the Service replied in the affirmative.
“During the discussion about Telegram, in front of my colleagues, I asked him whether the owners of anonymous Telegram channels were still ‘on hold’ at the SBU. The response from the head of the Service: yes, they are still on hold,” Zheleznyak stated.
He also attached a document to the post containing the SBU’s response to his request as chair of the Verkhovna Rada’s temporary investigative commission.
The request concerned Andriy Sakharov, Oleg Arutyunyanets, Bohdan Tymoshchuk and Volodymyr Zolkin.
The SBU’s response indicates that these individuals are not listed among the military personnel of the Security Service of Ukraine.
The document also states that they are not listed among employees who have entered into an employment contract with the SBU.
Furthermore, according to the response, in previous years these individuals did not serve in the SBU and did not work for the Service.
At the same time, the document specifically states that Andriy Sakharov, Oleg Arutyunants and Bohdan Tymoshchuk are in the reserve of the Security Service of Ukraine.
It is precisely this circumstance that Zheleznyak referred to as ‘reserve status’ in his post.
However, the published document does not indicate that these individuals are current SBU employees or work for the Service under an employment contract.
According to open sources, Andriy Sakharov has been linked to the Telegram channel INSIDER UA.
Oleg Arutyunyan and Bohdan Tymoshchuk have been linked in media reports to the Telegram channels Times of Ukraine and Ukraine Online.
Separately, Bohdan Tymoshchuk stated in his own self-presentation that he owns a network of Telegram channels with a multi-million audience.
Oleg Arutyunants also presented himself in his public profile as the owner of Telegram channels with a multi-million audience and co-owner of the Toba agency.
The situation is different for Volodymyr Zolkin.
In the document published by Zheleznyak, his name is among those for whom the MP sent an enquiry.
However, the SBU’s response regarding reserve status mentions only Sakharov, Arutyunants and Tymoshchuk.
Zolkin is known as a Ukrainian journalist and blogger, and the creator of video projects featuring interviews with Russian prisoners of war.
Earlier, the media also reported, citing Zheleznyak, that Zolkin may be listed in the Main Intelligence Directorate as a person exempt from general mobilisation.
This no longer concerns the SBU, but the Main Intelligence Directorate.
An important nuance is that the SBU had previously publicly denied that Oleg Arutyunyanets, Bohdan Tymoshchuk and Andriy Sakharov were on the reserve list.
At the same time, public reports indicated that these individuals are on the Service’s reserve list.
Therefore, formally, the published document does not imply that they are active SBU employees, but rather that some of the individuals linked to anonymous Telegram channels are on the SBU’s reserve list.
Zheleznyak himself interprets this as confirmation that the owners of anonymous Telegram channels still have a place reserved within the Service.
The MP did not provide any further details in his post regarding the grounds for such status, the duration, the number of individuals, or the specific mechanism for reserving a place.
As reported by ThePublic, the debate over possible restrictions on Telegram in Ukraine has been ongoing for several years. During this time, the messaging app has evolved from a standard communication tool into a platform that the state has begun to view as a potential security threat. How it all began, how the authorities’ stance has changed, and why the issue of restricting Telegram has returned to the public arena — in a full chronology of events.
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