Ukrainian Security Services have arrested a member of Parliament under the suspicion of high treason.
Nestor Shufrych was detained in a joint operation with the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) and Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO), who have evidence that the MP was working for the Russian Security Service agency.
The SBU said on Friday, “The Security Service of Ukraine, jointly with the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) and the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO), collected a well-reasoned evidence base on anti-Ukrainian activities of incumbent Member of Parliament Nestor Shufrych.
“According to the materials of the SBU, he was notified of suspicion under Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (high treason).”
Read more on Russia-Ukraine war:
Ukrainian ‘lightning-fast operation’ sees the ‘elimination’ of a Russian brigade and a town liberated
The SBU said the investigation found materials of evidence that Shufrych had “closely cooperated and carried out the tasks set by former NSDC [National Security and Defense Council] Secretary Volodymyr Sivkovych, and FSB agent, whose task was to coordinate the activities of Russian agents in Ukraine.”
The SBU said that Sivkovych had escaped to Moscow in 2014 and created a network of agents for subversive activities against Ukraine.
They said, “It was he who curated former Chief of the SBU Directorate in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Oleh Kulinich, a high treason suspect who was detained personally by SBU Chief Vasyl Maliuk.”
The Ukrainian special service added that one of the main tasks of Shufrych was to carry out subversive activities to collect and gather information for Russia.
The SBU added, “He regularly spread the Kremlin’s narratives that the Ukrainian state is allegedly an artificial entity, that Ukraine and Russia have a common history and that the Ukrainians and the Russians are allegedly ‘a single people.’ Thus, Shufrych tried to develop pro-Russian sentiments in the Ukrainian society.”
The investigation teams undertook 45 searches at the places of residence of the defendant and his close circle, adding that a pre-trial investigation is underway and he could be sent to prison for up to 15-years.
