BUDAPEST, November 13. /TASS/. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto says the EU must stop financing Ukraine because European money is ending up in the pockets of what he called the Ukrainian "military mafia."
Commenting on the high-profile corruption scandal in Vladimir Zelensky's inner circle, the top diplomat said: "The corruption dominoes are falling around the Ukrainian president. We must clearly and firmly state that we should no longer send a single euro of European people's money to Ukraine, because there is a high probability that it will go to this military mafia, a corrupt network."
According to a statement released by the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, Szijjarto also noted that "European citizens' money is flowing into Ukraine unchecked." "And we see that this money could have been used to finance the military mafia. It is not surprising that no one in Europe has ever seen a real, credible report on how the money sent to Ukraine was spent," the foreign minister emphasized.
On November 10, Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies conducted an operation to curb corruption in the energy sector. Searches were conducted at the home of Timur Mindich, who is often referred to as Zelensky’s "wallet," as well as at the residence of Justice Minister German Galuschenko, who had previously served as Energy Minister, and at the Energoatom company.
Charges have been filed against several suspects in the case, including Mindich, former Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Chernyshov, ex-advisor to the Energy Minister Igor Mironyuk, Energoatom CEO Dmitry Basov, along with several businessmen and employees of the so-called back-office who allegedly laundered the money. According to investigation reports, over $100 million were laundered.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko announced that Galuschenko and Energy Minister Svetlana Grinchuk submitted resignation letters in connection with the corruption scandal.