Russia's Astrakhan Oblast Governor Igor Babushkin appointed Andrii Derkach, a fugitive ex-member of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada, as a senator, according to a Sept. 12 decree.
Members of the Russian Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's parliament—unofficially called the Russian Senate — are not directly elected in a popular vote but are nominated by regional administrations.
A region can send two representatives to the Senate: one proposed by the governor and approved by the regional legislature and another elected by the legislature itself.
Derkach, who had been a Ukrainian lawmaker for nearly 20 years, had not attended meetings of the Ukrainian parliament since the start of the full-scale invasion. In 2023, his parliamentary powers were prematurely terminated.
The U.S. government has called Derkach "a Russian agent" and sanctioned him in 2022, accusing him of attempted election interference. Kyiv also imposed sanctions against the ex-lawmaker in 2021 and placed him on its wanted list.
According to TASS, Derkach now lives in Astrakhan and has Russian citizenship. President Volodymyr Zelensky revoked Derkach's Ukrainian citizenship in January 2023.
In 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) exposed a Russian agent network in Ukraine, which included Derkach.
Authorities said that the former lawmaker received funds from Russia's military intelligence agency (GRU) to create private security structures that Russia planned to use to capture Ukraine. Russia allocated $3-4 million every few months for the purpose, according to law enforcement.
In 2023, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) completed an investigation into suspected treason and illicit enrichment on Derkach's part.
Derkach, a former member of the now-banned pro-Russian Party of Regions, received at least $567,000 from Russian law enforcement and intelligence agencies for subversive activities against Ukraine, NABU said.
The politician was supposed to discredit the country at the international level, deteriorate diplomatic relations with the U.S., and hinder Ukraine's integration into the European Union and NATO, according to the investigation.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
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