MINSK. Dec 20 (Interfax) - The investigation into the case of Ukrainian journalist Pavlo Sharoiko, accused by Belarus of espionage, is nearing completion, Chairman of the Belarusian State Security Committee (KGB) Valery Vakulchik said.
"The criminal case in relation to Sharoiko is in the final stage now, as an exhaustive set of incriminating evidence had been gathered by the time of his detention, and his detention itself was purely technical," Vakulchik said in an interview published in SB. Belarus Today.
He said he did not see it as appropriate "to attach so much significance to Sharoiko's example."
"He is just one of the ten foreign intelligence operatives exposed over the past five years. We do not make such facts public, as we understand that this isn't conducive to good relations between countries. And in this case, as you know, the initiative of making the incident public was not ours," he said.
"It's Sharoiko himself who has given the fullest possible answer to the question about the circumstances of his case by confessing to his guilt," Vakulchik said.
It was announced on November 17, that UA:Ukrainian Radio correspondent Sharoiko was detained in Minsk on October 25.
On November 20, Belarusian KGB spokesman Dmitry Pobyarzhin said that the KGB had detained Sharoiko on charges of "creating a spy ring in the country." He said Sharoiko admitted that he is a career officer of Ukrainian intelligence services and that Ihor Skvortsov, a counselor at the Ukrainian Embassy in Belarus, had been his handler, due to which the latter was declared persona non grata.
Ukraine, in turn, expelled a Belarusian diplomat.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry said it views Kyiv's decision to expel a Belarusian diplomat as a groundless and unfriendly step.