Former deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC), Volodymyr Sivkovych, who is hiding in the Russian Federation, coordinated information sabotage against Ukraine by MP Nestor Shufrych, suspected of treason, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) notes.

“The security service has collected new evidence of high treason on the part of the former deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Volodymyr Sivkovych, who is hiding in the Russian Federation and working for the FSB. The ex-official is involved in organizing large-scale information campaigns aimed at artificially discrediting the top military-political leadership of Ukraine in favor of Kremlin,” the SBU reported on its website on Friday.

According to the intelligence service, for this purpose Sivkovych attracted well-known politicians in Kyiv, including Shufrych, to cooperate. “It was he who was one of the main speakers who, with the coordination of Sivkovych, published the Kremlin narratives during appearances on television and on the pages of online publications,” the message says.

According to the report, Sivkovych’s accomplices dispersed fake reports about the internal situation in Ukraine, as well as Moscow’s theses regarding the lack of alternative to the pro-Russian vector in foreign policy. “Thus, the Kremlin tried to destabilize the situation inside Ukraine as much as possible before the start of a full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation and discredit official Kyiv in front of its Western partners,” the SBU points out.

To avoid justice in 2014 for attempting to forcefully disperse the Maidan, Sivkovych went to Moscow, where he began organizing massive information sabotage against the state security of Ukraine.

“This is one of the priority tasks that Sivkovych carried out at the direction of personnel officers of the 9th Directorate of the Operational Information Department of the 5th FSB Service,” the department notes.

Based on the collected evidence, Security Service investigators informed Sivkovych of suspicion under Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (high treason committed by prior conspiracy by a group of persons).

Previously, based on materials from the SBU and the State Bureau of Investigations, Sivkovych’s actions were qualified under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: Part 1 of Article 255 (creation, management of a criminal community or criminal organization, as well as participation in it), Part 1 of Article 111 (high treason).

Since Sivkovych is hiding on the territory of the Russian Federation, comprehensive measures are ongoing to bring him to justice.

The investigation was conducted under the procedural direction of the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO).