The person who gave the grenade to Mr. Gennady Chastyakov was identified as his colleague (Photo: Pravda).
Pravda quoted Ukrainian legislative sources on November 9 as saying that the State Bureau of Investigation of Ukraine (SBI) identified the person who sent the grenade as a birthday gift to Gennady Chastyakov as his colleague and a senior assistant to the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of Ukraine.
According to the announcement, he is suspected of purchasing, storing, transporting and selling explosive devices without a valid license under the Criminal Code of Ukraine. If convicted, he could face up to seven years in prison.
"The officer was found to have purchased eight DM 51A2 hand grenades without a valid permit and brought them to his office. He then placed six grenades in a wooden box and put a bottle of strong liquor in it," the SBI statement said.
"He gave this gift box to Gennady Chastyakov on his birthday. This action is considered illegal storage and transportation of explosive devices. In addition, he kept two grenades in a drawer in his office. The authorities seized them," the statement added.
The statement did not specify the identity of the officer, but according to Pravda's source, this person is Oleh Tymchenko.
Mr Chastyakov, 39, died on the evening of November 6 after opening a birthday present at his home in Kiev. According to his wife, the gift contained grenades, one of which exploded in Mr Chastyakov’s hands.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said that on November 6, Mr. Chastykov returned home with birthday gifts from his colleagues. One gift box contained six Western-style grenades marked D5.
Ukraine's assistant chief of staff opened his birthday present in front of his wife and 13-year-old son.
"The first son took the grenade in his hand and started to turn the pin. Then Mr. Chastykov grabbed the grenade from his son's hand and accidentally pulled the pin, causing a tragic explosion," Mr. Klymenko said.
Investigators have put forward four hypotheses about the incident, the main one being an accident due to negligence.
The third hypothesis is that this was a deliberate assassination attempt on Mr. Chastyakov due to a personal conflict. The fourth hypothesis is that the assassination attempt was aimed at another Ukrainian military official, not Mr. Chastyakov.
The incident occurred amid speculation that there were rifts within Ukraine's leadership. This was demonstrated by the Office of President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly rejecting and criticizing comments by the Chief of the General Staff of Ukraine that the war with Russia had reached a stalemate.
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