Director General of state-run Ukrspyrt ethyl alcohol distillery Mykhailo Labutin has been dismissed, due to an order issued by Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Oleksiy Pavlenko, reads a post on Ukrspyrt's website.

Ukrspyrt Deputy Director General Viktor Pankov was tapped to replace him as acting director general at Ukrspyrt.

On December 19, soldiers from the Aidar battalion took Labutin from the hospital where he was undergoing treatment to an unknown place, under the pretext of protecting him from assassination.

First Deputy Chief of the State Fiscal Service Volodymyr Khomenko said that charges had been brought over the kidnapping of Labutin.

The State Fiscal Service has previously stated that the former Ukrspyrt head was suspected of embezzlement of company's funds and tax evasion.