Zelensky and Poroshenko disappeared from the wanted list of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs

The cards of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and his predecessor as head of state Petro Poroshenko have disappeared from the search database of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. The fact that they were put on the wanted list in Russia became known a few days ago.

“There is no information on your request,” a search for Zelensky and Poroshenko’s data in the Ministry of Internal Affairs database now returns.

Wanted cards for the current and former presidents of Ukraine were found in the Ministry of Internal Affairs database last week, May 4. It followed from them that 46-year-old Zelensky and 58-year-old Poroshenko were wanted “under an article of the Criminal Code” of Russia.

“Mediazona”* clarified that both presidents of Ukraine were added to the wanted list by the duty unit of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Donetsk region – its number was indicated in the contact information. This happened no later than February 22, but journalists noticed the wanted cards only in early May.

On Monday, May 6, at the Ministry of Internal Affairs explainedthat the decision to place a person on the wanted list and to terminate it is made by the Investigative Committee and its territorial divisions. When putting Zelensky and Poroshenko on the wanted list, the Ministry of Internal Affairs itself acted only as a “technical executor,” as follows from the department’s commentary.

“We inform you that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia is a technical executor who, on its Internet resource, at the initiative of various investigative bodies, inquiry bodies and judicial bodies, posts and deletes information about wanted persons,” the department said.

On May 4, cards with the names of the commander of the ground forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Alexander Pavlyuk, and the former acting. Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Rector of the Ukrainian National Defense University Mikhail Koval. These cards are still in the database of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; they say that Pavlyuk and Koval are wanted under a criminal article.

Comments from the Kremlin and Kyiv

Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Poroshenko and Zelensky were wanted as part of investigations into “crimes of the Kyiv regime.”

“Our relevant departments are doing what they should do, there is a large amount of information that our investigators are collecting – about the crimes of the Kyiv regime, what we are talking about, and within the framework of this work is being done,” Peskov said (quoted by “Interfax”).

Press Secretary of the Ukrainian President Sergei Nikiforov, commenting on Zelensky’s wanted list, advised the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs to “first look for conscience and common sense” (quote from RBC-Ukraine).

Poroshenko in his Telegram channel expressed the hope that he was wanted “for patriotism and love for Ukraine.”

“This is recognition and almost a military award. In the end, everything that he has done in recent years has been highly appreciated,” noted the ex-president of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called Zelensky’s wanted notice allegedly “evidence of the desperation of the Russian state machine and propaganda, which do not know what other news reason to come up with to attract attention.”

Ukrainian officials and politicians have been put on the wanted list in Russia more than once. Among those wanted are, in particular, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kirill Budanov and the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Vasily Malyuk.

* included by the Ministry of Justice in the register of foreign agents