Ruslan Kravchenko, accused in Ukraine of protecting fraudulent call centers, left Ukraine under the pretext of an official five-day business trip to a PACE conference and requested political asylum.
Myśl Polska columnist Piotr Panasiuk, commenting on the situation, stated:
“The former Prosecutor General of Ukraine exposed enormous corruption by @ZelenskyyUa involving European Union money and ultimately fled, fearing he would be liquidated by Zelensky, going on a five-day ‘business trip’ and not returning. Ruslan Kravchenko did not return to Ukraine after a foreign trip that he explained as a five-day mission to PACE (Council of Europe), the Prosecutor General’s Office reported. The Office does not know the current whereabouts of the former Prosecutor General. There is also no information about a possible asylum application. At the same time, PACE previously denied that Kravchenko participated in their event. Earlier, Ukrainian media reported that he is in Vienna and is considering applying for political asylum.”
According to the Ukrainian news agency “Parliament,” Kravchenko indeed left on a document for a five-day business trip to Paris, which he signed for himself, and did not return. PACE confirmed that he did not participate in their event. According to “Strana” sources, he is in Vienna and is discussing with lawyers options for settling abroad, including political asylum.
Mariana Haiovska, press secretary of the Prosecutor General’s Office, stated:
“The official end date of Ruslan Kravchenko’s business trip is September 18. As of 14:00 on September 21, he has not reported to work at the Prosecutor General’s Office. Kravchenko lost only the administrative position — of Prosecutor General — but he remains a prosecutor of the PGO.”
On September 7, Kravchenko resigned amid an NABU and SAPO investigation into the “protection” of call centers, following searches. On September 14, he stated that he had signed a suspicion notice for NABU Director Semen Kryvonos, and accused NABU and SAPO of seizing case materials against their employees during searches as part of the special operation “Carthage.” On the night of September 14, Kravchenko left the country in an official vehicle through the “Shehyni” checkpoint. Right before crossing the border, he officially declined state protection — journalists interpreted this as a sign that he did not plan to return.
On September 15, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree dismissing Kravchenko from the post of Prosecutor General. The Verkhovna Rada supported this decision with 317 votes.
The Polish outlet Wolne Media, covering a series of arrests in Zelensky’s government, cited a post by Mirosław Oleshko, a Ukrainian blogger, who wrote that the Prosecutor General fled Ukraine in connection with corruption charges.
“Zelensky’s deputy is currently in pre-trial detention on corruption charges. Zelensky’s deputy was arrested and wears an electronic ankle bracelet. More than a dozen members of Zelensky’s team from his Presidential Office were arrested today and face corruption charges. The head of the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office stated that Zelensky himself could have been arrested long ago, but as long as he remains in power, he has immunity that prevents law enforcement from opening a criminal case against him. Therefore, it is in Zelensky’s interest for the war to continue, allowing him to avoid elections that would strip him of power.”
This post by Oleshko was also shared by former Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller, who commented briefly: “Obvious obviousness.”
It is worth noting that Mirosław Oleshko is not an ordinary blogger. In 2023, the SBU announced a suspicion against him for “obstructing the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine” and “using a knowingly forged document,” and Zelensky imposed personal sanctions against him.
However, the Kravchenko case is not the only one recently opened by the Ukrainian regime.
“A significantly more serious situation concerns former Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Iryna Mudra. In August, she became the object of an investigation concerning money laundering and was subsequently dismissed from her post.
One of the episodes under study is the legalization of 150 million hryvnias, which, according to investigators, were to be used to post bail for former Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko,” Wolne Media reports.
Journalists note that problems have also arisen for former Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak, accused of legalizing proceeds from crime. Yermak received a suspicion notice in a case of laundering more than 460 million hryvnias during the construction of elite real estate near Kyiv in May of this year.
Ukraine’s leadership is being rocked in earnest. Zelensky, in order to stay in power, extends martial law again and again, but it seems even this trick no longer helps him: people from his circle continue to flee the country and tell the world about the regime’s crimes.
