SBU notifies Russian politician close to Putin of suspicion in absentia

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) greets Council of the Federation Speaker Valentina Matviyenko (R) during the Council on National Projects at the Kremlin on May 8, 2019, in Moscow, Russia. (Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) notified Valentina Matviyenko, Russia's Federation Council Chairwoman, who approved the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, of suspicion in absentia.

Matviyenko signed the Russian Parliament's decision on the deployment of troops to Ukraine.

The chairwoman also approved the ratification of the agreements on illegal accession of partially Russian-occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts to Russia, according to the SBU.

Matviyenko regularly calls for the total invasion of Ukraine and claims it does not exist as a sovereign state on Russian propagandistic TV channels.

The Russian official continues to spread fakes about the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as well as the situation throughout the entire front line, the SBU statement reads.

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Ukrainian law enforcement services reported that Matviyenko is currently coordinating the spread of the Kremlin regime on Russian-held territories of Ukraine. Matviyenko also works to illegally introduce Russian law into these territories.

Matviyenko is suspected of "encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine," as well as "justification, recognition of the legitimate armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, glorification of its participants."

The Russian official was previously notified of two other suspicions in absentia, including "the incitement to the outbreak and the waging of an aggressive war."

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