You're reading: Melnychenko planning to return to Ukraine ‘despite everything’

Former Major of the State Department of Guard Mykola Melnychenko, who was put on the international wanted list, has said he is planning to return to Ukraine, the Kommersant Ukraine newspaper reported on Monday.

"I will return to Ukraine in the near future," Melnychenko told the publication.

"I’ll do it despite everything," he added.

According to the newspaper, Melnychenko is currently in the United States. His lawyers said earlier that there was a threat to the life of their client in Ukraine.

On Oct. 14, the Prosecutor General’s Office said that Melnychenko twice attempted to leave Ukrainian territory and that on Sept. 23, an SBU investigator issued a resolution to put him on the wanted list.

The office recalled that as part of the investigation into a criminal case opened against Melnychenko, in order to prevent possible attempts to evade investigation, it had been decided to impose a ban on his traveling abroad pending the completion of a pretrial investigation.

On July 29, 2011, Kyiv Court of Appeals upheld a Pechersky District Court of Kyiv ruling of June 23, 2011, which canceled a resolution by former Prosecutor General Sviatoslav Piskun dated March 1, 2005, which closed a criminal case against Melnychenko.

The criminal case was opened against Melnychenko regarding the leaking of state secrets, abuse of office and the use of forged documents.