The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) declared the suspicion to Kherson Regional Council member Yuriy Kovalyov, the elder brother of the MP-collaborator Oleksiy Kovalyov.
This was reported in SBU press service.
Yuriy Kovalyov is currently working for the Russians as part of the occupation "The State Duma of the Kherson region" from the ruling party of the Russian Federation "United Russia". Using the "status" of his brother, Yuriy Kovalyov re-registered under Russian law more than 20 controlled companies in the Kherson region. In particular, the local agricultural holding, which this year transported almost 35 thousand tons of Ukrainian grain to Russia for a total amount of 140 million hryvnias.
The law enforcement officers also established that, on the instructions of Yuriy Kovalyov, Russian tanks and armored vehicles were being refueled "out of turn" at gas stations under his control. In addition, his companies supplied food for the occupiers at the checkpoints. Yuriy Kovalyovʼs companies also pay taxes in the Russian Federation. In August 2022 alone, one of his agricultural companies transferred almost 3 million Russian rubles to the Russian budget.
Now Yuriy Kovalyov is still in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine. He was informed of suspicion under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
- Part 2 of Art. 111 (treason committed under martial law);
- Part 5 of Art. 111-1 (collaborative activity).
- In 2019, the younger brother of Yuriy Kovalyov — Oleksiy — was elected to the Verkhovna Rada in one of the districts of the Kherson region. In the parliament, he was a member of the "Servant of the People" faction and was a member of the committee on finance, tax and customs policy. After the start of a large-scale war, Kovalyov went to the occupied Kherson region, on June 8, a case was opened against him for collaborationism. The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) stated that enterprises controlled by Kovalyov supply food to the temporarily occupied Crimea and sell it on the territory of the Russian Federation. The Servant of the People party expelled him from its faction and appealed to the Verkhovna Rada to strip Kovalyov of his mandate, and also called on the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office and SBU to take Kovalyovʼs case to court as soon as possible and to confiscate his property and assets.
- On June 22, 2022, in the occupied part of the Kherson region, in the city of Hola Prystan, there was an attempt on Oleksiy Kovalyov — his car was blown up, but he survived. On July 4, Kovalyov received the position of "deputy chairman for agriculture" in the occupation government of the Kherson region.
- Oleksiy Kovalyov died at home in the occupied territory of the Kherson region on August 28, 2022 from a gunshot wound, and his roommate also died with him. This information was officially confirmed by the Investigative Committee of Russia.