Ukraine's prosecutor general spent over 100 days abroad on official trips last year
In 2023, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin spent 103 days abroad on official trips, half of them to the United States, where his wife lives.
Source: Ukrainska Pravda, citing a source familiar with the matter in the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office (PGO); PGO response to a request by lawmaker Oleksii Honcharenko; Kostin's 2023 declaration
Quote from the source: "Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin spent 103 days abroad on official trips in 2023 (including days of departure and arrival, that is almost 30% of the calendar days in the year).
Almost half of these trips were to Washington in the United States, where his wife officially resides, as stated in a declaration submitted to the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP)."
Details: On 5 April, Oleksii Honcharenko, a lawmaker from the European Solidarity faction, posted the PGO's response to his request on Telegram.
It states that Kostin made 13 official trips abroad in 2023, and four between 1 January and 6 March 2024. However, the PGO did not indicate how long Kostin was abroad.
Furthermore, PGO employees on international official trips received reimbursements of UAH 3,781,368 (roughly US$97,300) from the budget in 2023 and UAH 471,139 (US$12,100) in 2024. 57% of the trips were fully funded by the organisers, 33% were partially funded by the organisers, and only 10% were financed by the state budget.
Kostin's 2023 declaration states that his wife, Olha Kostina, works and rents an apartment in the United States. The company owned by the Prosecutor General's wife is registered in Washington, DC. However, the declaration does not indicate the rental cost of her apartment in the United States.
In response to Honcharenko's request, the Prosecutor General's Office said that in 2023-2024, Kostin's visits abroad "contributed to the signing of crucial agreements, the investigation of war crimes committed against Ukraine, and the provision of assistance to our country in this process".
In particular, the PGO noted the following results that Kostin's work achieved:
- Arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Vladimir Putin and Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for the deportation of Ukrainian children, and for two senior Russian commanders (a general and an admiral) for attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure.
- The signing of an agreement and opening of an ICC office in Kyiv to facilitate their investigations.
- The opening of the International Centre for Prosecution for the Crime of Aggression and preparation of a case for the future tribunal.
- International promotion of the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression.
- Confiscation of Russian oligarchs’ assets in the US worth US$5.4 million, which was then spent on rehabilitation for Ukrainian veterans. A similar process is underway in Canada.
- The filing of charges against four pro-Russian militants by the US Justice Department.
- Serving three pro-Russian militants from Lithuania with notices of suspicion in the case of the murder of a civilian in Mariupol. The investigative group achieved this result based on Eurojust.
- The setting up of the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group, comprising experts from the US, EU and UK, to help Ukraine investigate war crimes in its own territory.
- Obtaining assistance from a number of countries in the investigation of Russia’s war crimes: creating a mission of experts who help document crimes, and supplying the equipment required for such documentation – DNA laboratories from France, drones for 3D-scanning of crime scenes from the US…
- Testifying at hearings of the US Helsinki Commission on war crimes against children, on the confiscation of Russian assets, on the forcible deportation of Ukrainian children and illegally detained civilians, and on holding Russia accountable for war crimes (Nuremberg). The result of this communication was the presentation to Congress of a bill named after a teenager shot by the Russians. This bill provides for the imposition of sanctions to combat the mass deportation of Ukrainian children.
Background: On 4 April, it was revealed that the President's Office of Ukraine was discussing the possible dismissal of Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin.
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