Ukraine’s Security Service announced on February 25 that it has put a pro-Kremlin blogger and politician on its wanted list after he failed to show up for questioning.
Anatoliy Shariy was charged earlier this month with high treason and hate speech and ordered to come in for questioning on February 22.
The SBU, as the service is known, claims he helped organize pro-Russia media campaigns. Shariy denies the accusations.
Shariy is a former journalist who fled Ukraine for Spain in 2012 after authorities opened a criminal case against him for assault. He received asylum in Spain, where he currently lives.
Though his initial investigative reporting targeted the government of pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovych, he wrote critically about the revolution that deposed him and spoke out against the Western-leaning governments that followed.
In 2019, he launched the Party of Shariy, whose candidates won a few local elections in 2020.
Shariy is the latest pro-Russian politician to face trouble in recent weeks. Ukraine earlier this month sanctioned lawmakers Viktor Medvedchuk and Taras Kozak, who are considered to be close to the Kremlin.
