Pechersky District Court of Kyiv has imposed pretrial restraint on former Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Vitaliy Zakharchenko and his deputy Viktor Ratushniak in the form of detention in the case of illegal supplies of grenades from Russia and the organization of the embezzlement of funds of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine for their customs clearance.

"Such a court decision gives the prosecution the right to initiate extradition proceedings against the former minister and his deputy. Prosecutors will also apply to the court for permission to conduct a special pretrial investigation in absentia," the press service of the of the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) said.

As the investigation found, the former officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, with the aim of arming the personnel of the officers of the internal affairs agencies, in January 2014 organized the illegal supply of 13,406 units of grenades produced by Russia to Ukraine. In addition, they organized groundless customs clearance of imported grenades and payment of more than UAH 1.177 million of customs duties to the Interior Ministry.

It is noted that the imported grenades were not included in the list of special equipment in service with the Interior Ministry of Ukraine, and did not pass the tests of the Health Ministry of Ukraine on the possibility of their use against people. At the same time, on February 18 and 19, 2019, imported Russian grenades were used against protesters in the central part of Kyiv, as a result of which 86 people were wounded, some 17 people were seriously injured, some 23 people were moderately injured, some 45 people were light wouned, one person died.

Pretrial investigation in criminal proceedings under Part 3 of Article 365, Part 3 of Article 27, Part 5 of Article 191 (abuse of authority by an employee of a law enforcement agency, which entailed grave consequences, misappropriation, waste of property or taking possession of it through abuse of office, committed on an especially large scale by an organized group) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is conducted by investigators of the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI).