Russian Minister of Transport notified of being under suspicion in Ukraine: he is responsible for delivery of Russian armoured vehicles to Crimea

OLEKSII PAVLYSH – TUESDAY, 25 OCTOBER 2022, 15:29

Vitaly Savelyev, the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation has been notified that he was under suspicion by the Security Service of Ukraine [SSU]; he is behind the transportation of an estimated 300 units of Russian armoured vehicles to the occupied Crimea.

Source: press service of the SSU on Telegram

Quote: "Following investigative and operational actions, the suspicion has been handed over to Vitaly Savelyev, the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, who participated in the preparation and conduction of Russian armed aggression against Ukraine.

The SSU established that the high-ranking official assisted the Russian Ministry of Defence in the transfer of personnel, weapons and military equipment to the borders of Ukraine and to the occupied areas. Russian military convoys were transported by rail through the territory of temporarily occupied Crimea,"

Details: The SSU established that starting from 26 March 2021 to 4 September 2022, Savelyev secured the transfer of an estimated 300 units of Russian armoured vehicles to the occupied Crimean Peninsula.

Russian tanks, armoured personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles and tankers with hundreds of tonnes of fuel and lubricants are among the shipped military equipment.

Quote: "It was the equipment that the Russian occupiers had used at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, in particular, in combat operations in Kherson, Zaporizhia, and Donetsk oblasts.

Details: Over 250 wagons were used to move military echelons.

"In order to fulfil this [i.e., transport the military equipment], the Head of the Russian Ministry of Transport gave a similar order to the subordinate divisions of the Rossiyskie Zheleznye Dorogi [Russian railway] company and the so-called Federal State Unitary Enterprise of the Republic of Crimea [dubbed] Krymskaya Zheleznaya Doroga [Crimean Railway]."

Details: SSU investigators suspect Savelyev of violating the following articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

• Art. 27.5, Art. 437.2 (assistance in the planning, preparation, resolution and conduct of an aggressive war);

• Art. 332.3 (illegal transportation of individuals across the state border of Ukraine).

The sanction of the articles provides a punishment of up to fifteen years of imprisonment.

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