The Income and Tax Ministry has revealed illegal video content containing child pornography on the Ukrainian services of the VKontakte social network (Russia), and on July 11, 2013 criminal proceedings were opened, reads a document of the ministry, a copy of which has been sent to Interfax-Ukraine.

The document says that on July 10, 2013, the comprehensive examination was finished, and it was revealed that 265 files were withdrawn from an unknown person, who acted on the behalf of the VKontakte name, has pornographic content, including children pornography, and content promoting violence and cruelty.

The examination established that the illegal information had been stored on servers since December 2012, and in the period from June 14 to June 26 alone some 31 million users watched it.

The department of the State Tax Inspectorate in Desniansky District in Kyiv opened proceedings in the case.

As reported, on June 27, 2013, VKontakte Chief Technical Officer Nikolai Durov said that law enforcers in Kyiv had seized the company's servers.

"The servers in Kyiv are now unavailable, as they've been withdrawn by the Ukrainian police for investigation," he wrote on his page in the social network.

VKontakte founder Pavel Durov in turn wrote on his page that the value of the equipment seized was half a million dollars.

The Income and Tax Ministry said that the computing equipment seized from Data-IX UA Ltd. by tax investigators has nothing to do with the work of the Russian headquartered VKontakte online social network.

The investigators of the State Tax Inspectorate in Kyiv's Desniansky district confiscated equipment as part of a prejudicial inquiry within the framework of a criminal case on deliberate tax evasion by employees of the Evos Ltd. Internet service provider. As part of the investigation, officers searched the premises of Data-IX UA Ltd., during which the latter's employees voluntarily handed over 10 units of computing equipment, including the Internet service provider's servers.