Former SBU colonel Valentyn Kryzhanovsky has been charged with treason. He is suspected of working for Russia during the occupation of Kyiv and Donetsk regions: conducting interrogations and "filtering" of Ukrainians and collecting data on the military.
This was reported on the website of the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office.
According to the investigation, after the start of the full-scale war, Kryzhanovsky was in the temporarily occupied Borodyanka and Ivankiv in the Kyiv region, where he detained Ukrainians, conducted interrogations and "filtration" and threatened them. He also collected data on the deployment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, ATO, the National Guard and "Azov" troops.
At the same time, according to investigators, Kryzhanovsky said that the Russian Federation was doing everything right and that there was a coup dʼétat in Ukraine, and denied the crimes of the Russian military.
After the de-occupation of the Kyiv region, the former SBU colonel left for Moscow, and then for the temporarily occupied Donetsk region, where from May 1 to 19, 2022, he was on the territory of “Azovstal” and met with the leadership of Azov.
Kryzhanovsky advised them to lay down their arms and surrender. He also raised the Soviet flag over one of the factory buildings.
He also received three summonses to the Main Directorate of SBU (July 6, 7, 8, 2026).
What is known about Kryzhanovsky?
Kryzhanovsky was dismissed from SBU in June 2005 for health reasons. Immediately after his dismissal from SBU, Kryzhanovsky was suspected of abuse of office, and later indicted for the illegal sale of a batch of zirconium and hafnium.
In 2005, he, together with the director of a company involved in the sale of the metal, extorted $100 000 from a man, threatening physical violence.
After a case was opened against him, Kryzhanovsky was on the international wanted list for over three years, but in the summer of 2006 he was detained in Tver, but not extradited to Ukraine.
In 2009, he was detained in Ukraine. Then he himself came to the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office. At the same time, he asked for political asylum in the Russian Federation, received a Russian passport as a former citizen of the USSR, and received a pension in Russia.
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