KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stripped 4 Ukrainian lawmakers of their citizenship for collaborating with the Kremlin, undermining nationwide safety, and spreading Russian propaganda.
The 4 pro-Russia MPs are Andriy Derkach, Taras Kozak, Rinat Kuzmin and Viktor Medvedchuk.
In a video tackle on Tuesday, Zelenskyy stated these “elected representatives selected to serve not the individuals of Ukraine, however the murderers who got here to Ukraine,” including that “this isn’t the final choice of that sort.”
Derkach is an impartial lawmaker who has been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for making an attempt to intrude in U.S. elections. In 2020 he was labeled by the U.S. as “an energetic Russian agent, sustaining shut connections with the Russian Intelligence Providers for over a decade.”
Probably the most high-profile of the 4 MPs is Medvedchuk, a millionaire who was probably the most influential ally of Vladimir Putin in Ukraine. The Russian president is the godfather of Medvedchuk’s daughter.
In 2021, Medvedchuk and his enterprise companion Kozak had been placed on trial, accused of excessive treason.
The State Bureau of Investigations of Ukraine stated it had discovered proof that Medvedchuk and Kozak had been serving to Russia to extract oil and gasoline in occupied territories of Ukraine. As well as, they had been accused of handing delicate information on the placement and deployment of Ukraine’s army items to Russian safety forces. In June, the State Bureau of Investigations completed its pre-trial investigation and handed the supplies to the court docket. Each deny all the costs.
Kozak fled Ukraine on February 24, 2021, precisely a 12 months earlier than Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Medvedchuk was put below home arrest and referred to as the felony prices in opposition to him political persecution. He continues to place himself as a critical political rival to Zelenskyy, though in actuality his ballot numbers don’t even put him within the prime 5.
After the beginning of the invasion, Medvedchuk escaped and was on the run for 2 months earlier than being caught by safety forces. In September, he was a part of a prisoner swap that noticed practically 200 troopers who defended Mariupol and its Azovstal steelworks being exchanged for 55 Russian troopers and the oligarch.
Each Medvedchuk and Kozak, in addition to Kuzmin, had been influential members of the Opposition Platform for Life get together, the most important pro-Russia political power in Ukraine. In June, a Ukrainian court docket banned the get together for repeatedly undermining Ukrainian sovereignty, and ordered its belongings be seized.
A month earlier, Zelenskyy had signed a regulation banning all 11 pro-Russia political events in Ukraine.
Opposition Platform for Life labeled the ban political persecution and tried to have it overturned within the courts. In September, the Supreme Court docket upheld the ban. Because of this, the remaining MPs break up into two new parliamentary factions: Platform for Life and Peace and Restoration of Ukraine.
