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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The morning of 14 September in Ukraine began with air raid alerts in several regions and with a scandal – Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, who could be dismissed as early as tomorrow, reported that he had signed two indictments: one for NABU chief Semen Kryvonos and one for an unnamed person close to SAP head Oleksandr Klymenko. He apparently wrote about this already while abroad – Kravchenko says he is on a business trip. How he left, what preceded the scandal, and what will happen next are covered in the piece by the publication "HORDON."
"Apart from me, no one else would have done this." What happened
On 8.00 in Kravchenko’s Telegram channel, an almost eight-minute video address appeared with the caption "I should have done this long ago." In the footage the prosecutor general said his resignation was a political decision. He spoke about integrity and his plans to "not allow" his dismissal to be used "to stop all criminal proceedings, to hide or destroy evidence, and to establish control over the prosecutor’s office by those whose actions it investigated."
Kravchenko claimed that the purpose of Operation "Carthage" into the "protection" of fraudulent call centers, in the course of which Office of the Prosecutor General official Serhiy Kropyva was arrested, was allegedly to gain access to criminal case materials involving the heads of NABU and SAP, Semen Kryvonos and Oleksandr Klymenko. During searches at the OPG building, some documents were allegedly copied and stolen.
He announced that he had signed indictments for the NABU director and for another person allegedly close to Klymenko. Kravchenko did not name that person.
"Before making these decisions I was politically restrained by the president [of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky], and by the anti-corruption activists themselves, who offered guarantees of immunity in exchange for refraining from issuing charges. I promised not to be politically convenient and not to back down from a decision demanded by the law and the evidence. I know that apart from me no one else would have done this. So I am ready for all political and media consequences. But these indictments are already signed. Behind every word of mine are facts and evidence collected long before Operation 'Carthage,' the sole aim of which was to stop me as a direct political opponent, as a person who could interfere," Kravchenko said.
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The Prosecutor General published the text of the indictment against Kryvonos. What’s wrong with it
14 September, 10.26
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The prosecutor general suspects Kryvonos of forging documents (the NABU director’s alleged aim was to obtain an illicit reward) and of a sham adoption of a child. Allegedly, in 2009 he adopted a friend-of-a-friend’s child to obtain amnesty in a case about bribing university students during an election campaign. The same video shows Kryvonos’s response to questions from members of the selection commission about that case (closed in 2010). He explained that there was no bribery, and that he and other students were pressured by the university administration to vote for candidates "beneficial" to it. According to Kryvonos, the students then faced pressure from law enforcement.
A voice-over in Kravchenko’s video accused Kryvonos of lying. The segment showed testimony from a woman – Svitlana Khomchenko – whose child Kryvonos allegedly adopted; it also showed the child’s personal data, including an unblurred birth certificate and a birth record. Kryvonos later, the video claims, filed a motion in court for amnesty and attached the boy’s birth certificate. Under the law at the time, that gave him the right to amnesty, the prosecutor general asserts. The birth certificate, in which Kryvonos would already be listed as the child’s father, is called forged in Kravchenko’s video.
NABU called Kravchenko’s indictment a continuation of a systemic attack on the bureau, said the indictment has not yet been served so they do not consider his announcements to be procedural actions, and stressed: anti-corruption bodies do not participate in political struggle. There were no substantive comments on the accusations; "Suspilne" asked the NABU director for comment, but he promised to give comments at a briefing that the NABU and SAP directors will hold this evening.
The indictment for the person close to Klymenko concerns possible influence on judges of the High Anti-Corruption Court, "offering them unlawful benefits, and also facilitating evasion of mobilization," Kravchenko said, without providing details.
"If he considers this political pressure — let him call it that"
Zelensky reacted quickly and emotionally, writing on Telegram that this prosecutor general "has only one path: dismissal from office."
"That’s exactly what I told him. Ukraine has seen all the reasons. If he considers this political pressure, let him call it that. I ask parliamentarians to support this dismissal without delay," the president added.
By midday Zelensky’s submission asking parliament to agree to the prosecutor general’s dismissal was already in the Rada. Consideration of the matter is scheduled for 15 September.
Sent himself on a business trip
When Servant of the People faction head Davyd Arakhamia announced the date of the vote, Holos MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak noted that "everyone already knew" about it. It is unknown whether Kravchenko was among that "everyone," but he is now abroad. According to Ukrainska Pravda, the prosecutor general left Ukraine last night in an official car. He crossed the border at 2.38.
Kravchenko’s wife, Oleksandra (they married in the spring), media reported, also left Ukraine that night. Kravchenko went to Poland, while his wife went to Moldova.
Kravchenko confirmed that he is now abroad. But he says he traveled on a business trip to hold a series of meetings and to "inform international partners about the real state of affairs in Ukraine’s system of anti-corruption bodies." The prosecutor general saw "signs of concentration" of NABU and SAP "of uncontrolled influence."
Sources from Suspilne and Liga.net reported that on 13 September Kravchenko signed an order sending himself on a business trip to France. He sent himself to Paris for five days to participate in a hearing of the Parliamentary Network of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe titled "Parliamentary measures regarding Ukrainian children in the context of international responsibility." Trip expenses were to be covered by the organizers. This information was later confirmed to Radio Liberty by the OPG press service.
According to European Solidarity MP Oleksiy Honcharenko, NABU and SAP were preparing to publish a new investigation this week in which Kravchenko was implicated. It was allegedly titled "The Emperor."
What came before this?
Kravchenko resigned amid the scandal over the "Carthage" case. According to the investigation materials, the suspects took bribes for "protecting" call centers (which defraud Ukrainians) and "laundered" those funds. One of the figures is Kropyva, whom the investigation calls the head of the criminal organization. The OPG official acted, among other things, together with current prosecution employees, NABU believes. The bureau published photos of cash and cars seized from the suspects, and recordings of phone conversations in which, it is alleged, the suspects’ voices can be heard. They, in particular, discuss how to use positions in the prosecutor’s office to appoint "their" people and to control illegal financial flows.
The investigation believes Kropyva is a person close to Kravchenko. At High Anti-Corruption Court hearings they mentioned a house in Kozyn near Kyiv that the prosecutor general may use secretly. A SAP prosecutor at a hearing said Kropyva coordinated and organized repairs to that house. He also allegedly arranged a flight for the prosecutor general’s wife and partner to Spain before his business trip. Journalists found the house in Kozyn, but the prosecutor general said he rents it. In the published conversations Kropyva (appearing under the name Kanzler) mentions the Boss – a person who, according to NABU, "vested him with authority and a sense of impunity." The Boss, like Kravchenko, is Andriyovych.
In conversations with journalists on the morning of 7 September Kravchenko said he did not intend to leave his post, but was ready to do so if his colleagues, the president of Ukraine, and the Verkhovna Rada explicitly asked for his resignation.
That same day, media reported, the president and Servant of the People’s Davyd Arakhamia held a meeting with Kravchenko about the prosecutor general’s future in office. In the evening Kravchenko published a post about his resignation. Zelensky 8 September confirmed the meeting with the prosecutor general and noted that he had also met with Kryvonos and Klymenko that day.
"I met with the heads of NABU and SAP, and with the prosecutor general of Ukraine. I’m sure you understand what we talked about. And I had a fairly long meeting with the prosecutor general; he wrote the corresponding statement, and the submission will be sent to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine," the president said.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Генпрокурор підписав підозру директору НАБУ й виїхав з України, Зеленський випустив різку заяву. Що відбувається". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Gordon.
