You're reading: State Border Guard Service: Melnychenko did not cross state border officially

The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine has stated that former Major of the State Department of Guard Mykola Melnychenko did not cross the state border officially.

"The citizen Melnychenko did not cross the state border of Ukraine officially," First Deputy Head of the State Border Guard Service Pavlo Shysholin told reporters on Tuesday.

According to him, the service’s database contains no information about a crossing of the state border by Melnychenko.

Shysholin noted that on Aug. 26 the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine ordered that Melnychenko be put on the list of citizens "banned from leaving Ukraine" until Jan. 1, 2016.

On Oct. 5, Kyiv’s Pechersky District Court put Melnychenko on the list of citizens under "administrative detention."

Shysholin also said that Melnychenko tried to leave Ukraine twice in September, but border guards did not let him leave the country.

"The first time was on Ukraine-Poland border at the Krakowiec checkpoint, and the second time on the Ukraine-Belarus border at the Hornostayivka checkpoint," he said.

The State Border Guard Service said the border guards warned Melnychenko about the ban on his traveling outside Ukraine, thus, he was aware of the restriction.

Shysholin added that if someone illegally helped Melnychenko to leave the country, those people might be sentenced to three to five years in prison.

He also said that no neighboring states have officially reported that Melnychenko entered their territories.

A criminal case has been opened against Melnychenko on the leaking of state secrets, abuse of office and the use of forged documents.