Valentin Rybin, a member of the leadership of the Russian occupation administration in the left-bank Kherson region, was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison. Before that, he worked as a lawyer with Viktor Medvedchuk and Anatoliy Shariy.
This was reported by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
Rybin currently heads the so-called “organizational and legal department of the Ministry of Information Policy of the Kherson region of Russia”. He coordinates the subversive activities of local “Kremlin mouthpieces”.
Before the start of the full-scale war, Rybin was a lawyer for Viktor Medvedchuk and blogger Anatoly Shariy, who was recently sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison for high treason.
SBU claims that Rybin went abroad and called on Ukrainians to lay down their arms before the Russians on his Facebook page. And then went to the temporarily occupied part of the Kherson region.
There, the "governor" of Kherson region appointed by the Russian occupiers, Volodymyr Saldo, offered Rybin a position — he was to engage in information sabotage against Ukraine, SBU says. At the same time, Rybin joined the pro-Putin United Russia party and on its behalf repeatedly called on locals to support the Russians.
Rybin was found guilty of collaborationism. In addition to imprisonment in absentia, the court ordered the confiscation of his property. Since Rybin is hiding in the occupied part of Ukraine, SBU is taking measures to bring him to justice.
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