Arrived in Kyiv on business but ended up in a pre-trial detention center (SIZO): the SBU met the Crimean "ex-minister"

In Kyiv, officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) detained a former Ukrainian official who, after the seizure of Crimea in 2014, sided with the Russian occupiers and helped them establish control over the peninsula’s strategic energy infrastructure.

The SBU press service reported his detention on 30 June 2026.

The suspect previously headed the Republican Committee of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea for Fuel, Energy and Innovation Policy.

According to the investigation, almost immediately after the temporary occupation and illegal annexation of the peninsula by Russia, the official obtained Russian citizenship and offered his assistance to representatives of the aggressor state.

After that, the Russian Gauleiter Serhiy Aksyonov appointed him the so‑called “Minister of Fuel and Energy of the Republic of Crimea”.

In this illegal “position”, the suspect, according to the SBU, helped the occupation administration of Russia establish control over strategic facilities of the energy sector of the temporarily occupied peninsula.

This concerns, in particular:

• Simferopol Combined Heat and Power Plant (CHP);
• Sevastopol Combined Heat and Power Plant (CHP);
• Tavriysk thermal power plant;
• networks of solar and wind power plants;
• gas pipelines and gas compressor stations;
• oil depots;
• oil terminals in Kerch and Feodosia.

According to the case materials, for 2 years after his occupying “appointment” the man tried to integrate the seized Crimean energy assets into the aggressor state’s economic and legal system.

In particular, the suspect facilitated the so‑called “re-registration” of Ukrainian energy enterprises under Russian legislation. Thus, the occupiers attempted to give a veneer of legality to the appropriation of Ukrainian state and private property.

After leaving the occupation “government”, the man did not cease working in the interests of the Kremlin regime. According to the special service, he headed a number of extractive industry companies operating in the temporarily occupied territory.

SBU officers detained the former official in the capital of Ukraine. According to the special service, he came to Kyiv to deal with personal matters.

How the suspect got from the temporarily occupied territory or Russia to the Ukrainian-controlled capital is not specified in the SBU statement.

During searches at the detainee’s place of residence, law enforcement officers found Russian passports, bank cards and documents which, according to the investigation, confirm his work for the aggressor state.

SBU investigators informed the man of suspicion under part 1 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — high treason.

The court chose a preventive measure for the suspect in the form of detention in custody without the right to post bail.

If found guilty, he faces up to 15 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property.

The comprehensive measures were carried out by officers of the Main Directorate of the SBU in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

The detainee’s name was not specified in the Security Service of Ukraine’s public statement.

Previously we wrote:

• Worked for Russia and organized paid rallies: Poland deported a group of Ukrainians and Belarusians
• Starlink for occupiers for $100: SBU exposed 8 Russian agents recruited via Telegram
• A Russian wife led her military husband to a curator: The Korabelnyi court handed down a verdict for treason
• Worked for the occupiers in Kherson: the suspect was remanded in custody in Mykolaiv
• Pointed the Russians the route through the Inhul: a traitor from Mykolaiv region received 15 years in prison