Ukrainian law enforcement officers have notified ten residents of Crimea that they are suspected of high treason. The suspects face up to 15 years in prison.
According to the National Police, in 2014, after the occupation of the peninsula, ten local residents made a conscious choice in favour of the aggressor state.
Officers of the National Police’s Strategic Investigations Department in Vinnytsya Region and detectives from the State Bureau of Investigation’s territorial office based in Khmelnytskyy identified the peninsula’s residents and gathered evidence of their unlawful activities.
The decision taken in spring 2014 did not stop at the mere fact of voluntarily switching sides to the enemy. The suspects chose to serve in Russia’s military structures and to carry out the duties assigned to them in the interests of the aggressor state.
These individuals signed contracts for military service in air defence units, anti-aircraft missile regiments, combat command-and-control structures of the Aerospace Forces, and at a testing range.
For example, one of the suspects became deputy commander of an anti-aircraft missile battalion for military and political work. Others were responsible for the operation of a command post and a radar group. Several more suspects took up senior posts in the motor transport service and the radiation, chemical and biological protection service.
Most of the suspects are still serving in the aggressor state’s military formations. At least three men left the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces during 2020–2021.
On the basis of the evidence collected, all ten suspects were notified in absentia that they are suspected under Part 1 of Article 111 (high treason) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Law enforcement officers are currently continuing work to identify and bring to justice everyone who has betrayed Ukraine and sided with the enemy, regardless of how much time has passed since the crime was committed.
- The Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol has sent to court an indictment against Serhii Kolobov, a former “minister” in Crimea’s occupation government.
- He will stand trial for high treason. The man was detained on 18 June 2026 in Kyiv.