Officials of the Ukrainian State Border Service and the State Aviation Service may be identified as defendants in a criminal case into a Moscow trip of Ukrainian presidential candidate and Opposition Platform – For Life co-founder Yuriy Boiko and leader of the Ukrainian Choice – People’s Right movement and member of the For Life party Viktor Medvedchuk.
“On the orders of the Prosecutor General’s Office prosecutor the territorial directorate of the State Bureau of Investigations in Kyiv is conducting a pretrial investigation of the criminal case into the possible abuse of office by officials of the State Border Service and the State Aviation Service in issuing permits for crossing the Ukrainian aerial border to Russia,” the press service of the State Bureau of Investigations told Interfax-Ukraine.
The criminal inquiry was launched on the charge of “an abuse of power or office” described in the Ukrainian Criminal Code.
“During the pretrial investigation a legal evaluation to granting permits was given,” the State Bureau of Investigations said.
The criminal proceedings were launched following the fact without any suspicions as of yet, the State Bureau of Investigations said.
On March 22, Boiko and Medvedchuk had a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller in Moscow to discuss the gas issues.
On March 27, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman ordered that the State Aviation Service, the State Border Service and other agencies look into where Ukrainian laws were violated when Boiko and Medvedchuk took a flight for Russia.
Criminal proceedings into the illegal border-crossing will be registered in connection with Boiko’s and Medvedchuk’s trip to Russia, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said.
Boiko and Medvedchuk could legally cross the Ukrainian state border, if their documents are valid and other law enforcement agencies did not impose any restrictions on them for the travel abroad, the Ukrainian State Border Service added.
