Foreign Ministry: Ivaschenko gets residence permit in Denmark, not political asylum
Ukraine's former Acting Defense Minister Valeriy Ivaschenko has received a residence permit in Denmark, rather than political asylum, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has reported
"We have received a message through our embassy from the Danish Foreign Ministry, which says that Valeriy Ivaschenko was granted a residence permit in Denmark, that is we have not currently got confirmation that he has been granted political asylum," Acting Director of the Foreign Ministry's Information Policy Department Yevhen Perebyinis said at a briefing on Tuesday.
He added that a residence permit and a political asylum are two different things and that there was no official report on the provision of refugee status to Ivaschenko.
On April 12, 2012, Kyiv's Pechersky District Court sentenced Ivaschenko to five years in prison, banning him at the same time from occupying government and administrative positions for three years. Ivaschenko's pretrial detention since August 21, 2010 has been counted toward the prison term set by the court, according to Article 82 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
On August 14, 2012, Kyiv Court of Appeals replaced the five-year imprisonment for Ivaschenko with a suspended sentence with a one-year probation period.
On March 12, 2013, the Higher Specialized Court of Ukraine for Criminal and Administrative Cases will hear Ivaschenko's appeal against his sentence.
While serving as an acting defense minister in November 2009, Ivaschenko signed a financial recovery plan for the Feodosia Ship and Mechanical Plant drawn up by a former head of the plant's financial recovery procedures. The document envisioned the sale of government property, including three berths, a bomb shelter, and a building for the storage of mobilization reserves.
Tyzhden.ua earlier reported that Ivaschenko had been granted political asylum in Denmark.
"Valeriy Ivaschenko was granted political asylum under the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. The Foreign Ministry of Denmark laconically commented on the issue by confirming the information. The fact that the decision on granting asylum to Ivaschenko was made quickly shows that the migration service of Denmark understood the situation clearly," tyzhden.ua reported.
