A court blocked real estate worth almost Hr 500 million ($13.4 million) of Oleg Tsaryov, a former Ukrainian lawmaker who defected to Russia and is suspected of financially contributing to Russian aggression, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on Feb. 2.
Tsaryov is a Dnipro-born businessman and former lawmaker for the former pro-Russian Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych's Party of the Regions. He went on to serve as an official of Russia's illegitimate proxies in Ukraine's Donbas region.
The blocked property includes an apartment in the central part of Dnipro and a plot of land in Kyiv Oblast. The court's order also included two property complexes in occupied Crimea: the "Kirova" sanatorium and the "Estate of Princess Bariatynska" museum, where Tsaryov resides.
Blocking Tsaryev's assets will prevent the former lawmaker from re-registering his property in order to avoid further confiscation, the SBU noted.
According to the investigation, Tsaryev continues to pay taxes from his Crimean sanatorium to occupation authorities, thus contributing to Russia's budget amid the full-scale war.
The SBU said that the politician also signed a contract with the Russian National Guard for the installation and maintenance of "technical means of protection" in his Crimean facilities.
Tsaryov faces charges of financing an aggressor state and treason.
"Since the perpetrator is hiding from justice in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, comprehensive measures are underway to bring him to justice for crimes against Ukraine," the SBU said.
After defecting to Russia, Tsaryov has been stripped of his seat in Ukraine's parliament in June 2014. He was then declared wanted by the Ukrainian police.
In October 2023, Tsaryov was shot and seriously wounded in Crimea. Ukrainian media claimed that Ukrainian intelligence services were behind the attack.
Abbey Fenbert
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