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Ukrainian Prosecutor General opens case against opposition’s Boiko, Medvedchuk

The case is lauched over "illegall crossing the Ukrainian border"

KIEV, March 27. /TASS/. Ukranian Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko announced that on Wednesday he would officially initiate legal proceedings against Ukraine’s Opposition Platform - For Life party presidential hopeful Yuri Boiko and the party’s political council Chairman Viktor Medvedchuk for illegal border crossing.

"Today we will be launching a criminal case against [Boiko and Medvedchuk] for illegally crossing the Ukrainian border. We have questions not only for the airline, but also for the customs service who let them leave the country," he said at a government meeting.

Earlier at the meeting, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov voiced his support for investigating the matter. "How did this happen that on March 22 a flight took off from [the Kiev airport] Zhuliany at 12:50 and travelled to Moscow and then back in violation of Ukrainian law, sanctions and in the situation when there’s no direct air routes between Ukraine and Russia," the Minister said. "Which officials decided in violation of the ban to create such comfortable conditions for people who held anti-Ukraine talks in Moscow?"

Earlier, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) pledged to legally assess the visit to Russia by Boiko and Medvedchuk, and their statements made in Moscow.

Yuri Boiko and Viktor Medvedchuk visited Moscow on March 22 to discuss opportunities to restore trade and economic relations with Russia, solutions to the gas issue and possibilities of creating a joint gas transit consortium. The Ukrainian politicians were greeted by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, followed by a meeting that was also attended by Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller. During the talks, the leaders of the Ukrainian opposition pointed out that Ukraine is in a difficult position economically speaking, and that the population has been reduced to poverty as a result of the policies that the Poroshenko regime promotes. They stressed that it is vital to change the economic agenda of the country and restore ties with Russia.

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