Ukraine Arrests Former Russian-Installed Crimea Energy Minister in Kyiv

Ukrainian authorities have arrested a former senior official from Russia’s occupation administration in Crimea after he traveled to Kyiv, prosecutors and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on Tuesday.

The suspect is a 65-year-old Ukrainian citizen who, according to investigators, served as the head of Crimea’s Republican Committee for Fuel, Energy and Innovation Policy from 2012.

While authorities did not officially identify the suspect, a law enforcement source told local media Ukrainska Pravda that he is Serhiy Kolobov.

According to investigators, the suspect voluntarily joined the occupation administration after Russia seized Crimea in 2014, heading the peninsula’s so-called Ministry of Fuel and Energy. Prosecutors said he helped organize the work of the Russian-installed government and implemented Moscow energy policy in occupied Crimea.

These include the Simferopol and Sevastopol combined heat and power plants, the Tavriya Thermal Power Plant, a network of solar and wind power plants, gas pipelines and gas compressor stations, as well as oil depots and oil terminals in Kerch and Feodosia.

After leaving the post, he continued working for companies in Crimea controlled by the occupation authorities, according to investigators.

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The SBU said Kolobov returned to government-controlled Ukraine in 2026 to deal with personal matters and settled temporarily in Kyiv, where officers tracked him down and arrested him.

During searches of his temporary residence, investigators seized Russian internal and international passports, along with electronic devices.

A Kyiv court ordered the suspect held in custody without bail while the investigation continues. If convicted of treason, he faces up to 15 years in prison and confiscation of his property.