Based on the evidence base of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Prosecutor’s Office, pro-Kremlin propagandist Mykhailo Shpir has been sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property, the SBU has said.
In a Telegram channel post on Friday, the Ukrainian special service informs that even before the full-scale invasion, this individual regularly appeared as a "political expert" on Medvedchuk’s TV channels and disseminated Kremlin messages.
"In 2020, Shpir fled to Moscow and with the start of the full-scale invasion became one of the main mouthpieces of the Kremlin, publicly supporting Putin in the armed aggression against Ukraine," the report states.
According to the agency, after the capture of Kherson, Russia appointed him "deputy minister of digital development and mass communications" of the local occupation administration.
"In this ‘position’, Mykhailo Shpir planted the enemy regime, spread their theses, and during the flight of the Russian military from the right bank of Kherson, he authorized the blowing up of telecommunications towers by Russian troops. Thus, he wanted to leave the local population without broadcasting and communications," the message notes.
Based on the materials of Security Service investigators, the court found the individual guilty under five articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: Part 2 of Article 111 (high treason committed under martial law); Part 5 of Article 111-1 (collaborative activity); Part 1 of Article 345 (threat against a law enforcement officer); Article 436 (war propaganda); and Parts 2 and 3 of Article 436-2 (justification, recognition of lawfulness, denial of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine, glorification of its participants).
The Ukrainian special service recalls that in June 2023, Shpir already received an in absentia sentence of 10 years in prison with confiscation of property for encroaching on the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
"Now the court has replaced this punishment with a 15-year imprisonment, which the traitor will serve from the moment of detention," the message says.
The investigation was conducted by SBU employees in Ivano-Frankivsk region under the procedural guidance of the regional prosecutor’s office.
