Rada takes into account interim report of temporary investigation commission on Wagner PMC members, Ilovaisk
The Verkhovna Rada has taken note of the interim report of the temporary investigative commission on the investigation of possible illegal actions of representatives of state authorities and other persons against the sovereignty of Ukraine, which concerns the organization of a special event to detain 33 members of the private military company Wagner and the Ilovaisk tragedy.
The adoption of relevant draft resolution No. 6324 was supported by 231 deputies at a plenary session on Tuesday.
At the same time, the Rada extended the term of the commission for another year.
Regarding the case of the Wagner PMC members, the temporary investigative commission established that the law enforcement agencies and the prosecutor's office of Ukraine did everything necessary to extradite the detained mercenaries from the territory of the Republic of Belarus, but the preparation of the relevant documents began after the mercenaries were detained in Belarus, which led to a loss of time and could negatively influence the results of extradition attempts within the framework of international legal cooperation mechanisms to bring the Wagner members to justice.
The Commission recommends sending to Interpol and the relevant authorities of the partner states all new data received regarding the Russian military, mercenaries, special services and intelligence officers who took part in active events and in the war against Ukraine and other states.
The commission determined that the fifth president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, could not authorize this active event, since it was launched at the end of June 2020.
At the same time, according to the available data, the commission concluded that there was a postponement of the active event - from July 25 to July 30, 2020. However, the commission did not manage to determine exactly who and at what level in Ukraine made the decision on this, but the commission found that there was no documented indication of a postponement on the part of any official. In particular, the commission did not find confirmation that President Volodymyr Zelensky gave personal orders to the leadership of the Defense Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine to postpone the active event. Also in its report, the commission noted that head of the President's Office Andriy Yermak does not have the authority to issue an order to the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of Defense to postpone any intelligence activity.
Regarding the events near Ilovaisk, Donetsk region, in the period from July to August 2014, the commission believes that the main reasons that led to the Ilovaisk tragedy are the improper organization of the country's defense as a system of political, economic, social, military, informational, legal, organizational and other measures to protection of the state in the face of armed aggression.
The commission also established that the leadership of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the Ilovaisk tragedy systematically opposed and blocked the work of the previous Verkhovna Rada commission on this issue.
The commission will continue to work to verify the events and circumstances that served as the basis for the investigation.
As reported, on June 25, the Rada created the temporary investigative commission to investigate the actions of officials and politicians against the sovereignty of Ukraine. It is headed by Deputy Head of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence Maryana Bezuhla (Servant of the People faction).