Two former ministers of Viktor Yanukovychʼs reign period were charged with preparing the "Kharkiv Agreements", according to which Ukraine extended the stay of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea.
This is reported by the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office and the State Bureau of Investigation.
Suspicions under Part 1 of Art. 111 of the Criminal Code was reported to the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kostyantyn Hryshchenko, and the former Minister of Justice, Oleksandr Lavrynovych. Currently, the accused are abroad, so the suspicions were announced in absentia.
According to the investigation, in April 2010, the suspects of a previous conspiracy with Yanukovych and the Prime Minister, Mykola Azarov, deliberately harmed the sovereignty of Ukraine by following the steps imposed by the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev.
"Fully aware of the consequences of signing this agreement, the former Prime Minister of Ukraine and the involved ministers created the conditions for the extension of the Russian Black Sea Fleetʼs stay on the territory of Ukraine for 25 years. This contributed to the increase of military equipment and personnel of the armed forces of the aggressor state, which were used during the annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol in 2014," the report stated.
The specified former ministers participated in the preparation of the draft of this agreement, in particular, they prepared the Cabinet order on approval and the draft law on the ratification of the agreement.
- In the Kharkiv Agreements case, suspicions have already been announced against Yanukovych and Azarov. A special investigation has been launched against them.
- On July 25, 2022, President Zelensky fired the first deputy secretary of the National Security Council, Ruslan Demchenko, who, according to journalists, lobbied for the "Kharkiv Agreements" in 2010. At that time, he held the position of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and dealt with issues of relations with Russia.