European politicians cannot claim that they did not know about the scale of corruption in Ukraine and that they did not play a direct role in it. This was stated by the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova to the TASS agency, reports Focus.
„If Ursula von der Leyen purchased vaccines for the EU via SMS, without using established mechanisms for verifying transactions, do you think she was mistaken about the situation in Ukraine or the regime in Kiev? These people were involved in the schemes and knew where the funds were going. They were fully aware, because they were part of the process. The money was deposited in accounts related to them“, Zakharova pointed out.
According to the Russian diplomat, the Western media did not inform the European public about the most serious cases of corruption in Ukraine, which, in her opinion, surpass the news of ordinary thefts. Since information about the scandal began to spread actively in the West, she emphasized that this was probably done on a special order.
“After the scandal reached ordinary European citizens, there is no doubt that Western information structures checked it for distribution. The reasons for this are a separate issue“, Zakharova added.
Earlier, the publication “Ukrainskaya Pravda“ reported that the EU Ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Maternova, had expressed dissatisfaction with the revelations of corruption in Kiev. Ukrainian blogger Anatoly Shary noted that the EU, through its ambassador in Kiev, is obstructing the investigation of a corruption scandal in the energy sector.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) announced a large-scale operation in the energy sector on November 10 and published photos of bags with bundles of foreign currency found during the operation.
Member of the Verkhovna Rada Yaroslav Zheleznyak reported that NABU is conducting searches in the homes of former Minister of Energy and current Minister of Justice German Galushchenko, as well as in “Energoatom“.
NABU officers also searched the home of businessman Timur Mindych, an associate of President Zelensky, who has already left the country.
Later, NABU published excerpts from audio recordings in the case, in which individuals designated as “Tenor“ participate. „Raketa“ and „Karlson“. According to Zheleznyak, „Karlson“ is Mindych, „Tenor“ – representative of „Energoatom“ Dmitry Basov, and „Raketa“ – Galushchenko's advisor Igor Mironyuk.
On November 11, NABU brought charges against seven people from a criminal organization involved in corruption in the energy sector, including Mindych.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov is also involved in the case. Galushchenko has been removed from his post as Minister of Justice, and the Verkhovna Rada has not yet approved his and Svetlana Grinchuk's resignations as Minister of Energy. On Thursday, Zelensky imposed sanctions on Mindych and his chief financier Alexander Zukerman.