Ukraine Says Another Ex-Lawmaker Is Suspected Of High Treason

KYIV -- Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigations (DBR) says former lawmaker Vadym Rabinovych, who is currently out the country, is suspected of high treason.

According to the DBR, Rabinovych, who represented the pro-Russia Opposition Platform-For Life (OPZZh) party in parliament, "spread anti-Ukrainian propaganda among the Ukrainian population and European Union member states" in an attempt to help Russia "reach its political and military goals in Ukraine."

A day earlier, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said another former Russia-friendly lawmaker, Yevhen Murayev, was also suspected of high treason. Murayev, 46, is also out of Ukraine currently. According to the SBU, Murayev used his Nashi (Ours) television channel, which is now banned in Ukraine, to promote Russian propaganda.

Weeks before Russia launched its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in February last year, British intelligence named Murayev as a possible Kremlin-friendly politician that Moscow wanted to bring to power in Ukraine.

Also on July 25, a court in Kyiv sent lawmaker Oleksandr Ponomaryov, who is also an OPZZH member, to pretrial detention on a high treason charge.

Investigators say Ponomaryov collaborated with Russia-imposed officials in Ukraine's territories occupied by Russian troops after Moscow launched it full-scale aggression against Ukraine last year.

Skhemy (Schemes), an investigative project run by RFE/RL, revealed earlier that Ponomaryov has held Russian citizenship for at least 18 years.

In May, the SBU announced that another OPZZh member and former lawmaker Oleh Voloshyn was suspected of high treason. Voloshyn fled Ukraine for Russia shortly before Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine last year.

In June 2022, a court in Ukraine banned OPZZh, which was founded and led by Viktor Medvedchuk, a longtime Ukrainian political fixture and reportedly a godfather to Russian President Vladimir Putin's daughter.

Medvedchuk was arrested in 2021 on charges of treason and terrorism financing and later placed under house arrest on bail.

Shortly after Russia launched its invasion, Medvedchuk escaped house arrest, but was rearrested in April while trying to flee to Russia.

In September, Ukrainian authorities handed the 68-year-old politician over to Russia in a prisoner exchange.