Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov has been sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property based on evidence from the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU). This was stated in a statement by the SSU on Wednesday, December 3.
The court found that Azarov had committed high treason. The investigation established that the former official was conducting subversive activities outside Ukraine in the interests of the Kremlin, for which he actively cooperates with russian special services.
"Among other things, Azarov regularly spreads anti-Ukrainian narratives on the airwaves of Moscow propagandists. During his speeches, the defendant justifies the armed aggression of the russian federation, the temporary occupation of part of Ukraine, and spreads fakes about the socio-political situation in our country. For a wider "dispersal" of information sabotage, Azarov uses his own Telegram and YouTube channels, as well as personal pages on social networks," the SSU emphasized.
Based on materials from counterintelligence and SSU investigators, the court found Azarov guilty under four articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
- high treason committed under martial law;
- actions aimed at forcibly changing or overthrowing the constitutional order or seizing state power, committed in a preliminary conspiracy;
- encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine;
- justification, recognition as legitimate, denial of the armed aggression of the russian federation against Ukraine, glorification of its participants.
One of his assistants was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison with confiscation of property.
Photo: SSU
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on May 30, former Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov was elected an academician of the russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).
As a reminder, in 2021, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy implemented the decision of the National Security and Defense Council to impose sanctions against former president Viktor Yanukovych, former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and a number of individuals.
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