The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) declared the suspicion to the former head of the Polohiv District Council of the Zaporizhzhia region, the MP of the banned party "Opposition Platform — For Life" (OPZZh) Serhii Kalashnik, who collaborated with the Russian occupiers.
This was reported to the SSU.
After the capture of part of the region, Kalashnik was one of the first to support the occupiers. For this, he was appointed head of the local occupation administration and allowed to form a "staff" of workers.
In the service of the Russians, the collaborator tried to rearrange the work of Ukrainian enterprises in favor of the Russian Federation. First of all, the occupiers were interested in large facilities of the chemical and food industry. The Kremlin planned to use their capabilities to meet the needs of the Russian army.
Kalashnik conducted an "inventory" of local businesses and obliged entrepreneurs to "re-register" with the occupation administration. He also forced the management of Ukrainian companies to pay "taxes" to the Russian budget and deliver finished products to the Russian Federation. Kalashnik threatened non-consensual persecution by the occupiers and physical violence.
The collaborator had a Russian curator — the deputy governor of the Penza region, who coordinated the "handover" of Ukrainian enterprises to the Russians, as well as the organization and holding of a pseudo-referendum.
Kalashnik was also a "character" in Ivan Okhlobystinʼs pseudo-documentary propaganda films.
The investigators of the Security Service declared him the suspicion under part 5 of Art. 111-1 (collaborative activity) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Kalashnik is currently hiding in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, but the SSU has already identified his whereabouts and is taking measures to bring him to justice.