Russian investigators could press new charges against Ukrainian tycoon Kolomoyskyi

Russia October 02, 2014, 12:48

Interpol has so far rejected Russia's request to launch a search for the Dnipropetrovsk governor

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/. Russia’s Investigative Committee could press new charges against Ukraine’s billionaire governor Ihor Kolomoyskyi and will continue demanding that he is put on an international wanted list, a senior official at IC said on Thursday.

Interpol has so far rejected Russia's request to launch a search for the Dnipropetrovsk governor, Alexander Drymanov, the acting head of the Investigative Committee department for crimes related to the use of prohibited means and methods of warfare said Thursday.

“I think this is linked to politics,” Drymanov said.

“Our Interpol colleagues have refused [to search for] Kolomoyskyi saying that this is linked to certain political events,” Drymanov explained.

Russia could press new charges against the tycoon so that he will become an internationally wanted suspect. “We have evidence of other crimes, committed by Kolomoyskyi in the business sphere,” he said.

Asked whether Kolomoyskyi’s arrest is a matter of time, the official said: “I think, it is.”

Ukrainian soldier admits killing civilians in Luhansk for Kolomoisky's money

On Wednesday, a private of Ukraine's Dnieper battalion has admitted killing women and children in the Luhansk region for remuneration offered by tycoon Ihor Kolomoyskyi. The Russian Investigative Committee has brought official charges against Sergei Litvinov for murdering innocent civilians during the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine.

“Litvinov has testified that he personally killed peaceful civilians, including women and children who were not linked to the military conflict, in the villages of Melovoye, Shirokiy, Makarovo and Kamyshnoye /in Ukraine’s Luhansk region/ on the basis of information provided by anonymous sources,” Vladimir Markin, the head of the Russian Investigative Committee, said Wednesday.

Case against Ihor Kolomoyskyi

Basmanny district court of Moscow arrested in absentia the Governor of east-central Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk Region Ihor Kolomoyskyi in July. Russian law enforcement agencies accuse Kolomoyskyi of masterminding murders and use of banned ways and methods of warfare. He is suspected of initiating and financing military operations in south-eastern Ukraine, where over 3,000 people have been killed since April, according to the UN human rights office. Kolomoyskyi was put on international wanted list on June 21.

Kolomoyskyi, according to open sources, is one of the richest Ukrainian citizens, founder of the Privat financial and industrial group. Upon the decision of the Verkhovna Rada, Kolomoyskyi was appointed Governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region. In this office, he declared an active fight against the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics and proposed to form at his expense military units for a raid against them.

 

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