Former Ukrainian MP Derkach joins Defence Committee of Russian Federation Council

STANISLAV POHORILOV — Thursday, 14 November 2024, 18:32

Former Ukrainian MP Andrii Derkach, who fled the country and is wanted, has joined the Security and Defence Committee of the Russian Federation Council.

Source: Chesno Movement

Details: Earlier, it was reported that Derkach was one of the candidates for the Russian Federation Council from Astrakhan Oblast.

Andrii Derkach has joined the Security and Defence Committee of the Russian Federation Council
Photo: the Russian Federation Council

Previously: In 2023, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office sent to court a case against Derkach for high treason and illicit enrichment. In particular, he was supposed to discredit Ukraine in the international arena, deteriorate diplomatic relations with the United States and impede Ukraine's integration into the European Union and NATO.

The investigators established that he received at least US$567,000 from Russian law enforcement and intelligence agencies for subversive activities against Ukraine.

According to the investigation, Derkach, MP Oleksandr Dubinskyi and former prosecutor Kostiantyn Kulyk, on the instructions of Russian secret services, organised events to discredit Ukraine's image in the international arena in order to worsen diplomatic relations with the United States and complicate Ukraine's accession to the European Union and NATO.

Background:

  • In August 2021, the National Security and Defence Council imposed personal economic restrictive sanctions against MP Andrii Derkach.
  • Earlier, the United States imposed sanctions on Derkach for his attempts to influence the 2020 US presidential election. According to the US, Derkach has been an active Russian agent for more than a decade.
  • On 24 June 2022, the State Security Service announced that it had exposed an agent network of the Russian General Staff that was supposed to help the Russians capture Ukraine, which involved Derkach. According to the investigation, the MP oversaw the creation of a number of private security companies in different oblasts to use these structures for the rapid seizure of Ukraine.
  • The State Security Service neutralised the network at the beginning of the war by detaining the MP's former aide, Ihor Kolesnikov.
  • In January 2023, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stripped Andrii Derkach of his Ukrainian citizenship.

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