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Ukrainian Communist leader refutes media allegations he left country

The politician refuted reports of being summoned for questioning by the Ukrainian Security Service

Ukrainian Communist Party leader Pyotr Simonenko (right) with leaders of Communist parties of Russia (center) and Belarus (left), March 28, 2015 Vyacheslav Prokofyev/TASS

Ukrainian Communist Party leader Pyotr Simonenko (right) with leaders of Communist parties of Russia (center) and Belarus (left), March 28, 2015

© Vyacheslav Prokofyev/TASS

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KIEV, April 1. /TASS/. Ukrainian Communist Party leader Pyotr Simonenko on Thursday refuted media reports that he had received a summons for interrogation from the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU).

"I didn’t get any information from the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), nor did I leave for any other country and I’m staying on the Ukrainian territory," he said in an interview with Channel 112 in a comment on a statement by the SBU press secretary that he would be detained once he turned up on the Ukrainian territory.

The press secretary, Yelena Gitlyanskaya said the SBU had summoned Simonenko for interrogation for April 2 in connection with his statements in the Russian media.

"The SBU is clearing out the details of Simonenko’s stay at a plenary session of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation," she said. "As part of criminal proceedings, we’re are scrutinizing his public statements and comments to the Russian TV channels, including the statement he made to Rossiya’24 channel on March 28."

She explained the SBU was examining the presence of a criminal offence against the foundations of Ukraine’s national security in Simonenko’s words.

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