Poroshenko vows to return to Ukraine on Jan 17
European Solidarity party leader and former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said that he will return to Kyiv on January 17.
"As I promised, I will return to Kyiv on January 17 to show up in court and meet with the prosecutor general, using my right of a people's deputy," Poroshenko wrote on Facebook.
Before that, on January 10-15, he said he would "work in Europe to protect Ukraine from Russian aggression and support democracy in our country," adding that despite a long holiday season, much needs to be done to step up Western support for Ukraine.
Poroshenko earlier announced that he would return to Ukraine from a foreign trip in the first half of January. He left abroad on December 17.
On December 20, Acting Prosecutor General Oleksiy Symonenko signed a notice of suspicion for Poroshenko in the case of coal supplies from the occupied territories.
Kyiv's Pechersky District Court received a petition requiring that Poroshenko be remanded in custody.
According to Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation, Poroshenko is suspected of "aiding the activities of the terrorist organizations 'LPR' and 'DPR' by acting in collusion with a group of individuals, including representatives of the top leadership of the Russian Federation."
In September-November 2021, an incumbent MP and a former energy minister were declared suspects in the case.
They are suspected of buying coal from non-government-controlled areas in Donetsk and Luhansk regions using state funds. According to the investigation, through their actions they made Ukraine's energy sector dependent on Russia and terrorist organizations, which, in turn, undermined the economic security of the state in 2014-2015, depriving it of any opportunities for diversification of energy sources and providing Russia with greater opportunities for further interference in the internal affairs of Ukraine and subversive activities against the country.
