In a private meeting between Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and former head of the Ukrainian security service Leonid Derkach, the two discuss Vladimir Putin and Semion Mogilevich. The conversation is being recorded by the president’s security detail, Mykola Melnychenko.
Kuchma: “Have you found Mogilevich?”
Derkach: “I found him.”
Kuchma: “So, are you two working now?”
Derkach: “We’re working. We have another meeting tomorrow. He arrives incognito.
Later in the discussion Derkach revealed a few details about Mogilevich.
Derkach: “He’s on good terms with Putin. He and Putin have been in contact since Putin was still in Leningrad.”
Kuchma: “I hope we won’t have any problems because of this.”
Derkach: “They have their own affairs”
The transcript is obtained by journalist J.V. Koshiw and published in his book The Politics of Kuchma – the Melnychenko Recordings August 1999 to September 2000.
Source
https://jamestown.org/program/the-strange-ties-between-semion-mogilevich-and-vladimir-putin
