Last week, I notified two members of parliament of Ukraine of suspicion. Viktor Medvedchuk and Taras Kozak are suspected of high treason and attempted plunder of national resources in Kremlin-occupied Crimea. One of them, Medvedchuk, is now under house arrest.
The prosecutor’s office is appealing against this court decision and insists on taking the suspect into custody with the right to post bail of about Hr 300 million, or nearly $11 million.
The Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine does not allow for the use of non-alternative detention in custody for crimes against the foundations of national security, as the Constitutional Court ruled, a few years ago.
As for Kozak, the court authorized his apprehension for the purpose of compelled appearance for the participation in consideration of a motion for imposing a preventive measure.
I will explain the details of the procedure for notifying of suspicion in order to stop the manipulation by the defense party. I signed the notification of suspicion on May 11, 2021. According to the rules of the Criminal Procedure Code, the notification shall be carried out on the day when it is drawn up. Therefore, investigators and prosecutors took measures to serve the suspicion on Medvedchuk. In the course of a series of searches, his whereabouts were not established. Thus, the member of parliament was notified of suspicion in accordance with, and in the manner prescribed by, the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, i. e., it was sent by mail to his last known place of residence and place of work — to the staff of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament.
Therefore, he acquired the status of a suspect on May 11, 2021.
On May 12, having arrived on summons for investigative and procedural actions, at the request of the member of parliament and his defense counsels, they were provided with a copy of the notification of suspicion, which was served the day before, for the purpose of familiarization, in order to ensure the right to defense. The compliance of the notification procedure and the substantiation of the suspicion were confirmed by the court during the selection of the preventive measure.
So what are the members of parliament suspected of?
Episode 1
Attempted plunder of resources of the Hlyboka deposit in Crimea and high treason upon transferring the deposit documents to representatives of the aggressor country
In 2014, the Russian Federation illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula, as a result of which our state lost not only its territory but also its natural resources stocks, including those located in the exclusive maritime economic zone of Ukraine. According to experts, the value of stocks located in the invaded territory is almost Hr 2 trillion, more than $70 billion.
Among them, there is the Hlyboka deposit located on the pre-Kerch shelf of the Black Sea. Its prospective resources in monetary terms amount to more than Hr 38 billion or $1.4 billion. Geological exploration of this area began back in 2002. This required significant resources and financial costs. In 2015, the suspects actually handed over the entire documentary base of the deposit to the aggressor country.
In 2012, Limited Liability Company Novi Proekty, affiliated with the suspects and registered in the territory of Ukraine, received a special permit for subsoil use of the Hlyboka deposit. Having exclusive data and documents on the mineral deposit, which would take the aggressor years to obtain, they actually started the totally illegal process of handing them over to the occupation authorities from about March 2015.
The investigation established that Medvedchuk, together with Kozak, representatives of the Russian authorities and other persons, illegally re-registered the Ukrainian company under the Russian legislation in Russia. At the same time, a “decision” was obtained from the so-called “Arbitration Court of the Republic of Crimea,” which allegedly recognized the actual location of the Ukrainian company Novi Proekty LLC at the time of annexation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, although in fact the company was registered in Kyiv.
After re-registration, the order of the government of the Russian Federation granted the company the so-called “license” valid until 2046, with the intended purpose of subsoil use and types of work stated as “geological study of subsurface, survey, and production of hydrocarbons.”
The only thing that has currently stopped the illegal extraction of Ukrainian resources is the partial crossing of the territory of Hlyboka tract with the border of the military training area of the aggressor state. In order to eliminate this obstacle, the president of the Russian Federation was given a letter from the company, asking to change the boundaries of the training area, which, according to experts, was edited personally by Medvedchuk.
What is the essence of this crime?
In addition to its formal side, which provides for the very fact of cooperation with the aggressor country and assistance in subversive activities against Ukraine, it is important that without the actions of Medvedchuk and his accomplices, according to experts, the process of deposit development and exploitation by the Russian Federation would take years and require significant material resources.
Episode 2
High treason involving the transfer of secret data on the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the Russian Federation
According to the investigation, in August 2020, Medvedchuk sent secret information about the location of a hidden military unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, its personnel and military training to Kozak, who was in Russia at that time. The information, which is a state secret, has been transferred by him to the secret services of the Russian Federation. Such actions inflict damage to the state’s defense capabilities and are subversive activities against Ukraine.
Episode 3
High treason involving assistance in conducting information war through the project Promin
The investigation has also established that the suspects have assisted a foreign state in subversive activities against Ukraine by waging an information war.
In 2020, members of parliament took part in finalizing the program Project Promin developed by the Russian authorities, the purpose of which was to gain the opportunity to manage events in Ukraine. The project was aimed at forming a network of agents of influence, the population stratum loyal to the Russian Federation, promoting and lobbying political, geo-economic and other interests of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, taking management, economic, political decisions favorable for the Russian Federation.
Again, according to the conclusions of the examination, handwritten corrections in the text of the program were made by Medvedchuk.
Financing of terrorism?
Criminal proceedings on these facts began in March 2021. The notification of suspicion to the MPs is only a starting point, the investigation and collection of evidence of illegal actions, as well as the identification of all involved persons, continues. I
n addition to this criminal proceeding, we are working in a number of cases on the facts of possible illegal activities of these MPs, including on financing of terrorism.
Iryna Venediktova is the prosecutor general of Ukraine. She took office in March 2020. She is a former acting head of the State Investigation Bureau and ex-chair of the Committee on Legal Policy of the Verkhovna Rada.
