Ukraine's Security Service reported suspicion to associate of Prigozhin who launched Russian TV channel in temporarily occupied Kherson region
Employees of the Security Service of Ukraine have collected evidence on the organizers of the pro-Kremlin television and radio company Tavria, which operates in the temporarily occupied part of Kherson region.
"It has been established that the well-known Kremlin political strategist Alexander Malkevich was involved in launching the enemy media project. Since 2018, he has been a member of the inner circle of the head of the Russian private military company Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin. It was under his coordination that Malkevich created media projects in different countries to distribute pro-Kremlin content," the press service of the Security Service said.
After the start of the full-scale invasion, Malkevich launched the so-called TV and Radio Company Tavria in occupied Kherson based on the seized premises of the Public Television. At the same time, he received full assistance from the local collaborator Volodymyr Saldo and his subordinate, the so-called "Minister of Information Policy of Kherson Region," collaborator Yevhen Brikov.
Tavria was used as a regional mouthpiece for the Kremlin in spreading fake news about the situation at the front, the situation in Ukraine, and also to support a pseudo-referendum on the "joining" of Kherson region to Russia. Ismail Abdulaiev, a propagandist for the "DPR" terrorist organization and former head of the pro-Kremlin Oplot TV channel in temporarily occupied Donetsk, became its leader. The "staff" included several more of his associates.
During the liberation of Kherson, the media center's staff, having taken the equipment, fled, together with the invaders, to the left bank of the Dnipro River.
Based on the collected evidence, the Security Service investigators notified Malkevich, Abdulaiev, and six more of their subordinates about the suspicion under Part 6 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (collaboration activity).
So far, the defendants are hiding from justice in the temporarily occupied part of southern Ukraine. Comprehensive measures continue to bring them to justice for crimes against Ukraine. The offenders face up to 12 years in prison.
