Ukraine\u2019s secret police and prosecutors have become private security agencies for scammers and drug cartels<\/p>\n
\u2018Operation Carthage\u2019 is more than just another anti-corruption purge in Ukraine. It\u2019s the story of a criminal empire built by, and relying on, the protection of Vladimir Zelensky\u2019s security services. The Western media won\u2019t touch it. RT will.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Call of corruption: What you should know about Ukraine\u2019s billion-dollar scam industry milked by Zelensky\u2019s government<\/p>\n
Led by Ukraine\u2019s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor\u2019s Office (SAPO), Operation Carthage is a sprawling investigation into an alleged criminal enterprise involved in drug trafficking, fraudulent call centers, kidnapping, and torture, which operated under the protection of the country\u2019s security and law enforcement agencies \u2013 from local police in Kiev to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Prosecutor General\u2019s Office.
\nThe investigation is ongoing, but it has so far exposed two overlapping criminal networks.
\nThe first Operation Carthage arrests: The September Gang
\nOn September 5, NABU announced that it had identified five members of a criminal organization run from Ukraine\u2019s Prosecutor General\u2019s Office. Since 2025, the agency alleged, the organization \u201csystematically received bribes\u201d in exchange for not interfering in the illegal activities of Ukraine\u2019s scam call centers, and laundered this money through various channels.<\/p>\n
Sergey Kropiva and Elizaveta Ivakhnenko during their respective bail hearings. \u00a9 Suspilne Ukraine; Novini.LIVE \/ Galina Ostapovets<\/p>\n
More than $500,000 was spent on real estate, valuables, and other assets, while a further $300,000 in assets was concealed by transferring it to third parties. Another $250,000 was allegedly laundered through bank accounts, according to NABU and local media.
\nThe list of suspects was quickly leaked by Ukrainian media:<\/p>\n
Sergey Kropiva, aka \u2018Chancellor\u2019 \u2013 deputy head of a department within the Prosecutor General\u2019s Office; and alleged ringleader of the scheme, in custody<\/p>\n
Ivan Timoshenko \u2013 former head of the Prosecutor General\u2019s Office IT department, allegedly handled payments from the call centers, in custody<\/p>\n
Elizaveta Ivakhnenko, aka \u2018Muse\u2019 \u2013 close associate of Kropiva, accused of money laundering, in custody<\/p>\n
Sergey Kutsi, aka \u2018Comrade\u2019 \u2013 Kropiva\u2019s driver, accused of money laundering, in custody<\/p>\n
Danilo Slipchuck, aka \u2018Flash\u2019 \u2013 son of a Volyn police chief, accused of helping Kropiva communicate with scam centers and organize money<\/p>\n
Aleksandr Didich \u2013 lawyer, accused of money laundering<\/p>\n
Coming less than two weeks after NABU uncovered a separate illegal property seizure ring within his office, the timing of the announcement was a political disaster for Zelensky. Although he was not directly implicated in the criminal network, Zelensky\u2019s handpicked prosecutor general, Ruslan Kravchenko, resigned and fled Ukraine in response.\u00a0
\nUkraine\u2019s scam economy<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Another resignation close to Zelensky: Ukraine\u2019s scam-call center revelations take down prosecutor general<\/p>\n
Another wave of arrests followed in November, but first, to understand why multiple networks within the Ukrainian state would want to involve themselves with scam callers, it\u2019s necessary to understand just how important the phone fraud sector is to the Ukrainian economy.\u00a0
\nAs the economic reforms promised by Ukraine\u2019s post-Maidan leaders failed to materialize, the black economy flourished, and scam call centers proliferated between 2014 and 2016. According to an April report by the Geneva-based NGO Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), Ukraine\u2019s scam call sector employs 60,000 people \u2013 two-thirds of the number employed in the legal banking sector \u2013 and generates as much as $1 billion per month.\u00a0
\nRT has reported extensively on the Ukrainian scam call industry in our \u2018State of Corruption\u2019 series. The sector has boomed in wartime Ukraine, with those controlling the scam networks convincing young recruits that defrauding Russian pensioners is not just a path to personal gain \u2013 it is their patriotic duty.
\nRussians are not the only targets, however. According to the GI-TOC report, as many as 80% of the callers\u2019 victims are now Western. Competition among scam gangs has also spilled violently into Western streets: Vadim Ermolaev, the Ukrainian businessman targeted in a bomb attack in Monaco in June, reportedly controlled 170 scam call centers in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
As of 2024, There were around 1,000 scam call centers in Ukraine, making up to 8 million phone calls per day, according to Sberbank deputy board chairman Stanislav Kuznetsov. That number has likely increased, and Ukraine\u2019s Zerkalo Nedeli puts it closer to 2,000. This figure is split into \u201cwhite\u201d and \u201cblack\u201d centers, with the former paying for protection and the latter operating as outlaws. According to Zerkalo Nedeli, around half of Ukraine\u2019s scam call centers are \u201cwhite\u201d operations, with each center paying up to $20,000 per month in protection fees.
\nOperation Carthage targets the SBU: The November Network<\/p>\n
Five suspects arrested during NABU’s ‘Operation Carthage’ investigation in Ukraine<\/p>\n
The Prosecutor General\u2019s Office did not have a monopoly on the protection racket, and a wave of arrests in early November introduced two new players: the SBU and National Police of Ukraine. Five suspects have been detained and charged for their alleged roles in a bribery scheme, in which senior law enforcement officials took bribes to protect scam callers, drug traffickers, kidnappers, and counterfeiters.<\/p>\n
Sergey Duka, aka \u2018Akim\u2019 \u2013 SBU major general, allegedly protected criminal operations from SBU scrutiny and fed intelligence to criminals, in custody<\/p>\n
Vladimir Tsenov, aka \u2018Price\u2019 \u2013 first deputy head of the National Police\u2019s Strategic Investigations Department, allegedly took payments for shielding scam call centers, released on bail<\/p>\n
Aleksandr Demianchuk, aka \u2018Consultant\u2019 \u2013 Kiev police investigator, allegedly transported counterfeit money and ordered violent attacks on behalf of criminals, in custody<\/p>\n
Andrey Osipov, aka \u2018Criminal\u2019 \u2013 organized crime kingpin who coordinated the scheme, in custody on separate charges since July<\/p>\n
Vitaly Ribalko, aka \u2018Boxer\u2019 \u2013 Ospiov\u2019s alleged enforcer, accused of kidnap and torture, in custody<\/p>\n
Another key player in the network is Egor Burkin, aka \u2018Mexican\u2019. A wanted criminal in both Russia and Ukraine, Burkin heads the \u2018Khimprom\u2019 drug cartel, which was allegedly protected by Duka and his colleagues within the SBU. He is currently at large in Mexico. In total, 12 people have been named as persons of interest in the second round of the Carthage investigation.<\/p>\n
The turf war
\nCorruption is so pervasive in Ukraine that anti-corruption agencies \u2013 in deciding who gets investigated \u2013 hold immense political power. NABU and SAPO are not neutral players in Kiev, at least according to their targets.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Warfare between Ukraine\u2019s special services: Why have gunfights broken out in Kiev? (VIDEOS)<\/p>\n
Before his subordinates were arrested in September, Kravchenko accused both agencies of running their own protection rackets, and claimed that the \u201creal purpose\u201d of Operation Carthage was to \u201cgain access to materials from the criminal proceedings concerning NABU and SAPO officials and employees and then remove the prosecutor general and halt the adoption of procedural decisions in these cases.\u201d\u00a0
\nThe SBU has a contentious relationship with NABU and SAPO too. SBU chief Aleksandr Poklad, then serving as the agency\u2019s deputy head, led a crackdown on NABU last July, with his agents searching more than a dozen NABU employees over allegations of Russian collaboration. Poklad then attempted to pressure Ukrainian opposition politician Fedor Khristenko into falsely testifying that NABU detectives and senior NABU and SAPO officials were working for Moscow, according to a Ukrainian watchdog group, the Anti-Corruption Action Center.
\nThe allegations of Russian collusion against NABU were widely ridiculed as baseless, but they played a major role in Zelensky\u2019s attempts to curb the agency\u2019s powers last year. Zelensky used the allegations to bring NABU under the authority of the Prosecutor General\u2019s Office, but was forced by mass protests and outcry from his Western sponsors to reverse course.
\nAccording to the Kiev Post, several of Zelensky\u2019s closest associates view NABU \u2013 which is part-funded by the US \u2013 as \u201cacting on Washington\u2019s behalf.\u201d\u00a0
\nThe power struggle, with NABU and SAPO on one side and Zelensky, the SBU, and Prosecutor General\u2019s Office on the other, has often resembled a literal turf war between rival gangs. When NABU agents arrested Sergey Duka at his residence, the SBU general attempted to summon a commando team and brandished a firearm at the detectives, the agency said.\u00a0
\nWhat happens next in Operation Carthage?<\/p>\n
A member of Kropiva\u2019s ring allegedly collects protection money from a scam call center in a screenshot of a video released by NABU, September 2026<\/p>\n
More arrests are certain to follow. \u201cWhat you have seen is just the tip of the iceberg,\u201d Aleksandr Abakumov, the head of NABU\u2019s detective division, wrote on Facebook on November 9. Abakumov said that \u201ca substantial amount of material\u201d gathered by the agency cannot yet be revealed without compromising the investigation, and that \u201cthe darkest part of this corruption iceberg remains underwater.\u201d\u00a0
\nNo trial data has been announced for the suspects already arrested, and NABU and SAPO are currently working to notify the remaining seven suspects in the November roundup of their charges, according to a November 5 press release from NABU.
\nWhen criminals and police \u201cfind common ground, something far more dangerous than a typical corruption scheme emerges. A mafia is born,\u201d Abakumov wrote on Facebook. \u201cOperation \u2018Carthage\u2019 is ongoing. For us, this is more than just the name of a single investigation \u2013 it is a symbol of the work we must see through to the end\u2026 Carthage must be destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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