The Security Service of Ukraine has served three former MPs from the banned Party of Regions with a notice of suspicion of treason. Investigators have gathered new evidence that Oleg Tsarev, Dmytro Svyatash and Ihor Markov contributed to Russia's aggressive war against Ukraine.

According to the SBU press service, all three are charged under Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code (high treason committed under martial law). The defendants are currently hiding from justice in Russia.

According to the investigation, Tsarev cooperated with the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defence after the start of the full-scale invasion. He "leaked" information to the aggressor about the consequences of strikes on Ukraine.

It was he who passed on to the occupiers detailed information about the results of rocket attacks on the Kremenchuk oil refinery.

Tsarev received this information from another Party of Regions member, Dmytro Svyatash.

After February 24, 2022, he actively supported the Russian Federation, and the Kremlin considered him a potential governor of the Kharkiv region. Svyatash passed information to the enemy about the weapons, time and directions of movement of the Defence Forces units in the region.

The traitor received intelligence through his 'party' connections in Kharkiv region.

The third suspect, Ihor Markov, regularly justified Russian armed aggression. His "speeches" were repeatedly broadcast on Russian TV.

Markov is additionally charged with Art. 436 (propaganda of war) and Art. 436-2 (justification, recognition of the legitimacy, denial of the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine, glorification of its participants).

The SBU noted that it had previously served the named defendants with notices of suspicion of committing other crimes against the state security of Ukraine.

The investigation was carried out by SBU officers in the Vinnytsia and Odesa regions under the procedural supervision of the prosecutor's office.

At the same time, the Office of the Prosecutor General reported that three members of the Party of Regions had been served with suspicion notices, but did not name them. The report notes that members of the 4-6th, 4-8th and 7th convocations of the Rada established cooperation with the Russian Ministry of Defence after the full-scale invasion.

Two of them (according to the SBU, Tsarev and Svyatash) are charged with high treason committed by a group of persons (Article 28(1), Article 111(2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The third (Markov) was in the temporarily occupied territory of Kherson in July 2022 with the Russian military. He publicly supported the actions of the occupiers, in particular, the Odesa Brigade military formation, created to provide armed resistance to law enforcement and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Prosecutor General's Office said.

The former MP called for the war against Ukraine to continue with the use of more brutal methods.

According to him, the next goal was to "liberate" Mykolaiv and Odesa. He called on the defenders of southern Ukraine to lay down their arms and threatened to kill them in case of resistance.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported:

- A resident of Kherson was sentenced to 8 years in prison for collaborating with the occupiers. The man guarded a Russian torture chamber. After the city was liberated, he decided to "lay low" in Odesa region, but the SBU managed to find and detain him.

- The SBU neutralised the FSB agent network in Zaporizhzhia, which was preparing terrorist attacks against the Special Forces and the Armed Forces command.

- A Russian GRU agent who passed information about the Ukrainian Defence Forces to the enemy was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was a resident of the Vinnytsia region who had served in the USSR army and retired in the early 1990s.

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