Members of the criminal group that NABU exposed in the "Carthage" case deliberately tried to put pressure on officials, including Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Ihor Klymenko. He said this at a meeting with journalists, according to РБК-Україна .
Klymenko emotionally commented on the appearance of his surname in the recordings of the defendants in the "Khimprom" drug cartel case.
"I was shocked, honestly," he noted.
According to the official, in the recordings, the leader of the group, nicknamed "Mexican", threatened to create a political crisis, orchestrate the removal of the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and launch an information campaign with fakes through a number of Telegram channels and websites.
"That is, they used such information bombs, to spread them, in order to reputationally undermine officials in this information noise. This was an element of pressure," Klymenko said.
He separately noted that no one approached him with an offer of a bribe.
"I had no such conversations with anyone. Pressure regarding drugs and the Cabinet resolution, what they meant – well, they pushed, see how it is? There is a resolution, U420 is not there," Klymenko emphasized.
He also said that he does not know whom exactly the defendants meant when talking about the possibility of involving someone from his circle "in a share".
Liquidation of the U420 network
Klymenko reminded that the group tried to exploit gaps in legislation on synthetic cannabinoids and sold drugs through a network of stores.
After a lengthy operation, investigations, and the adoption of necessary government decisions, law enforcement completely liquidated this network back in April.
According to him, the resolution was developed for 2.5 months, because "chemical formulas had to be specified". The initiative was also coordinated with the Ministry of Health and with the head of the National Police.
"It was important to actually ban all derivatives related to this chemical element," the NSDC Secretary noted.
He noted that none of these stores are operating, and law enforcement agencies continue to work on identifying and bringing to justice all those involved.
Bribery plans and drug syndicate connections
Recall that the surname of the current NSDC Secretary Ihor Klymenko appeared on new NABU tapes in the "Carthage" case, which were released this week.
Later, the head of NABU detectives, Oleksandr Abakumov, said that the leader of the Russian drug syndicate "Khimprom" (Egor Burkin, known as "Mexican") tried to block the ban on synthetic cannabinoids in Ukraine.
The criminal group had enormous shadow budgets and sought ways to influence the then Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko so that he would not initiate the relevant restrictions.
