Former Ukrainian PM Azarov to face trial for treason and anti-Ukrainian messages on Telegram

Ukrainian prosecutors have filed an indictment against Mykola Azarov, the former prime minister of Ukraine, and his assistant who is currently in Russia.

Source: Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office; the Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine; Ukrainska Pravda

Details: Both are charged with public appeals to violent change or overthrow of the constitutional order of take-over of government, trespass against territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine, justification, recognition as legitimate and denial of armed aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine. The former prime minister is also charged with treason.

The circumstances of the case indicate that the suspect is Azarov's assistant, Olena Khokhlova.

The investigation has established that the former prime minister, while on Russian territory, created a Telegram channel where he made posts of a propagandistic nature supporting Kremlin narratives, which shaped anti-Ukrainian sentiments in society.

The materials aim to undermine Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability, defence capability, and state, economic, or informational security.

The Telegram channel was administered by Azarov’s two assistants (Olena Khokhlova and Valentyna Khlopiacha – ed.). One of them, Khlopiacha, was the head of the Organisational Department in the Kyiv District State Administration. Her case is already being considered in court.

Khokhlova had left for Russia. 

The two accomplices jointly coordinated the informational propaganda activities of the former prime minister on the Telegram channel, as well as on other social media, and helped organise and disseminate anti-Ukrainian interviews and comments to Russian media.

Maintaining active connections with the former prime minister and his circle, the women facilitated information subversive activities coordinated by representatives of Russian special services aimed at discrediting the current government on the international stage. They did not cease to assist the aggressor state even after a full-scale invasion.

The psycholinguistic expertise of the published materials conducted by the court fully confirms the facts of the defendants' illegal activities, as stated by the prosecution.

The case of Azarov and Khokhlova has been transferred to the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv.

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