The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has served former MP Yevhen Murayev with a notice of suspicion of treason.
According to the SBU, it has collected evidence against the leader of the banned Nashi (Ours) party, who is involved in subversive activities against Ukraine.
Based on the evidence collected, Murayev is suspected under two articles of the Criminal Code:
Part 1 of Article 111 (high treason);
Part 1 of Article 161 (violation of equality of citizens based on their race, nationality, region, religious beliefs, disability and other grounds).
According to the investigation, Murayev used the Nash TV channel under his control to spread pro-Kremlin narratives in the information space of Ukraine to manipulate public opinion in the interests of Russia.
The channel offered distorted information about the situation in Ukraine and its perception in the international arena, and faced sanctions imposed by the National Security and Defence Council in early February 2022.
After lengthy independent examinations initiated by the SBU, the facts of the defendant's criminal activity against the state security of Ukraine have now been finally confirmed.
Comprehensive measures are underway to establish all the circumstances of the crimes. The offender faces up to 15 years of imprisonment.
Murayev was elected an MP twice, in 2012 and 2014. In 2019, he ran for president but left the race in favour of Oleksandr Vilkul. British intelligence named him as Moscow's possible stooge ruler for Ukraine.
Murayev's Nashi party was banned in June 2022, several months after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.