New treason and aiding terrorism charges brought against Medvedchuk

New treason charges were brought against Viktor Medvedchuk, a member of the Parliament of Ukraine from the Opposition Platform – For Life faction.

This was announced by Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and Chief of the Security Service of Ukraine Ivan Bakanov at a briefing on October 8, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

According to the investigation files, Medvedchuk persuaded the leadership of Ukraine to deliver fuel from "LPR" and "DPR" and pay directly to the leaders of terrorist organizations.

According to the Prosecutor General, in 2015, at least UAH 200 million were transferred, cashed out, and distributed to the advantage of "LPR" and "DPR" for the coal supplies from the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk regions and for the implementation of the overall criminal plan to promote their activities, not taking in account the funds paid in cash, out of the planned more than UAH 3.16 billion.

"Thus, Ukraine's energy sector was made dependent on the Russian Federation and terrorist organizations. This undermined the economic security of the state in 2014-2015, deprived it of opportunities to diversify sources of energy supply. The actions of the suspect provided the Russian Federation with greater opportunities for further interference in the internal affairs of Ukraine and subversive activities against it," the Prosecutor General said.

In turn, Chief of the Security Service of Ukraine Ivan Bakanov stressed that "the investigation has a serious body of evidence that confirms the illegal activities of the defendants. We know about the transfer of cash to 'LPR/DPR' and the transfer of funds to enterprises from the occupied territories. Moreover, we see that the plans discussed by the participants (changing management of enterprises, opening bank branches, etc.) were later implemented."

Bakanov noted that after Russia had captured part of Donbas, Ukraine found itself on the verge of an energy crisis. So it was decided to buy coal in the world market, in particular, from South Africa. However, Russia had plans to disrupt the implementation of these contracts and prevent Ukraine from strengthening its own energy independence.

Therefore, with the mediation of Medvedchuk, there was a conspiracy with senior officials of Ukraine, who, using the powers of the National Bank and law enforcement agencies, created artificial barriers to coal supplies from South Africa. In the end, those contracts were terminated, leading to a wave of rolling blackouts in Ukraine.

"With Medvedchuk's assistance, in order to return Ukraine to the orbit of Russian influence, illegal schemes were organized to supply coal from the temporarily occupied territories to state-owned enterprises in Ukraine," Bakanov said.

The Chief of the Security Service of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General released a number of audio recordings confirming the existence of the "coal scheme" and the Russian authorities' interest in it.

The expert examination confirmed that Medvedchuk was one of the interlocutors on the recorded conversations, talking about the implementation of illegal schemes to representatives of the Russian authorities.

The Prosecutor General's Office will ask the court to arrest Viktor Medvedchuk with an alternative of paying UAH 1 billion bail.