Ukraine’s intel denies involvement in murder of Russian ex-navy commander

The victim’s relatives claim he did not participate in the invasion of Ukraine

Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said his department was not involved in the murder of Stanislav Rzhitsky, a former Russian submarine commander turned mobilisation officer who was shot dead the previous day during a jog in the city of Krasnodar.

“The claims of some media and politicians that the Main Directorate of Intelligence had something to do with the death of Stanislav Rzhitsky, who commanded the submarine ‘Krasnodar’ and killed Ukrainian civilians, are completely unfounded. We know that what happened yesterday has its roots in Russia itself, where there is a growing protest against the war in Ukraine,” Budanov wrote in his Telegram channel.

Ukrainian intelligence claims that Rzhitsky had carried out missile strikes against the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia. The Strategic Communications department of the Ukrainian army said in a statement that Rzhitsky had come to the conclusion that missile strikes that killed civilians were ineffective.

“He was obviously eliminated by his own side for refusing to follow orders from his command regarding missile attacks on peaceful Ukrainian cities,” the department concluded.

According to Ukrainian intel, Rzhitsky was shot seven times from a Makarov pistol during a morning jog. There were allegedly no witnesses due to rainy weather. Russian authorities have opened an investigation into the murder.

Rzhitsky, who held the rank of captain, had commanded the submarines “Krasnodar” and “Alrosa” during his service in the army. The Ukrainian-based Myrotvorets website, which lists persons deemed “enemies of Ukraine”, claims the submarines carried Kalibr missiles that the Russian military has used to strike Ukrainian cities. Myrotvorets added Rzhitsky to their list back in 2014 for temporarily commanding the submarine “Zaporizhzhia”, which belonged to the Ukrainian Navy until the Russian annexation of Crimea.

Rzhitsky’s father told Baza that his son had filed his resignation from the Russian army back in 2021 and did not take part in the Ukraine war. Rzhitsky was only officially fired in August 2022, but his father claims he was in Sevastopol until then and did not go to sea. Several months later, the 42-year-old took up a job in the Krasnodar administration. Rzhitsky’s friend Sergey Gainulin also told the media that the captain had left the army before the invasion of Ukraine.