The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is investigating attempts by Russian oligarchs, who recently owned one of the largest Ukrainian banks, to circumvent the economic sanctions of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) and the country's Western partners.

"In particular, the secret service exposed the top managers of the financial institution, who the Russians involved in organizing schemes to change the nominal owners of their business," the Ukrainian special service said on its Telegram channel on Monday.

According to it, bypassing international and Ukrainian sanctions would allow the oligarchs to withdraw funds from Ukraine and use them in the Russian Federation, where insurance, telecommunications and trading companies controlled by them operate.

"This business is actively cooperating with Russian armed formations fighting in Ukraine: it provides communication services in the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, and provides clothing for the Russian army," the message says.

SBU investigators are establishing all the circumstances of the crime.

Criminal proceedings were initiated under Part 3 of Article 110-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (financing of actions committed with the aim of forcibly changing or overthrowing the constitutional order or seizing state power, changing the boundaries of the territory or the state border of Ukraine).

During the searches at the addresses of the head office of the bank and the places of residence of the top management, communication tools and information carriers were found with confirmation of the illegal activities of its former Russian owners.

Complex measures were carried out under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor General's Office.