Head of High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine still holds Soviet passport – investigation

Investigative journalists have denied the information from the Foreign Intelligence Service that Roman Ihnatov, the chairman of the High Qualification Commission of Judges, holds a Russian passport. It appears that the number of the document published by the Foreign Intelligence Service is a combination of digits from a Soviet passport.

Source: Skhemy (Schemes, a Radio Liberty project focused on investigative journalism) on Telegram

Details: An editorial review by Schemes revealed that the information provided by the Foreign Intelligence Service is not true. 

Quote: "The High Qualification Commission of Judges (HQCJ) of Ukraine is a very influential body. The careers of Ukrainian judges throughout the country depend on its members. 

Therefore, a year ago, when the selection of members of the commission was being held, Heorhii Shabaiev, a Schemes journalist, checked Roman Ihnatov, the then candidate for the HQCJ. 

And he found that Ihnatov only had an old Soviet passport. 

But he never obtained Russian citizenship."  

More details: In addition, the Russian official Rospasport system does not have such a citizen registered.

The editorial board of Schemes believes that the passport number published by the Foreign Intelligence Service is a combination of the number of Ihnatov's old Soviet passport (the first six digits are 614064) and the date of its issue (09.12). 

Journalists noted that the third and fourth digits in the passport number must correspond to the year of issue (or a neighbouring year). The "40" series will not be issued in Russia until 2040.  

Background: 

• On 21 December, the High Qualification Commission of Judges received a letter from the Security Service stating that HQCJ chairman Roman Ihnatov has Russian citizenship. Earlier, Ihnatov denied that he had a Russian passport.
• In turn, Roman Ihnatov, in a comment to Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, said that he was preparing a briefing, where he planned to answer all questions: "This is a provocation at state level. They don't need principled and honest people."

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