According to Reuters, a Ukrainian lawmaker accused of treason and cooperating with Russia’s military intelligence has been ordered detained for 60 days by a Kyiv court. Oleksandr Dubinsky, who is under U.S. sanctions, was also told he was suspected of spreading misinformation about Ukraine’s political leadership.
He announced on his Telegram channel that the court supported the prosecution’s request for detention until January 12, 2024, although he did not give a reason for his detention.
A video was posted of Dubinsky in a building with a man in a Ukraine security service uniform behind him, but Reuters could not independently verify its authenticity. The SBU, Ukraine’s security service, stated on Monday that a politician was under suspicion of treason but did not name the suspect.
Two other lawmakers, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn and Oleksiy Honcharenko, named Dubinsky as the subject of the treason suspicion. Honcharenko said that Dubinsky received the notice of suspicion and was searched that day.
Dubinsky himself called the suspicion fabricated and based on “absolute lies of top state officials.” He had been expelled from the ruling Servant of the People party in 2021 after being put on the U.S. sanctions list, but he denied the accusations and continued working in parliament.
The SBU claimed the suspect was a member of a criminal organization financed by Russia’s military intelligence. This organization was reportedly created in 2016 and included an ex-lawmaker, their aide, and an ex-prosecutor. The State Investigative Bureau stated that events were organized by this organization to discredit Ukraine internationally and to complicate diplomatic relations with the United States and Ukraine’s accession to the European Union and NATO.
In January 2021, the United States imposed sanctions on several Ukrainian individuals, including Dubinsky, accusing them of U.S. election interference and associating with a pro-Russian Ukrainian lawmaker linked to efforts by then President Trump’s allies to dig up dirt on now-President Joe Biden and his son.
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa and Lidia Kelly; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Lincoln Feast.)
