KIEV, March 18. /TASS/. The former head of Ukraine’s National Police department in the Vinnitsa region, Anton Shevtsov, who was detained earlier on Friday while trying to escape to Russia, is suspected of high treason, press secretary of the Ukrainian Security Service Yelena Gitlyanskaya said on Friday.

"Criminal proceedings have been opened under Article 111 part 1of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (high treason). The investigation continues," she wrote on her Facebook page.

Gitlyanskaya reported earlier that officers of the Security Service of Ukraine detained former head of the Vinnitsa region’s police Anton Shevtsov who was trying to flee to Russia. "The detention took place within the framework of an opened criminal case over his activity that damages the state’s national interests," she wrote.

Born in Crimea, Anton Shevtsov was appointed head of the regional police in January 2016. However, after his appointment the local activists of the Automaidan movement accused him of "separatism" and "pro-Russian views", referring to certain publications he made in social media. After that the activists held rallies demanding Shevtsov’s resignation.

The protesters’ demands were heard by the Ukrainian National Police head Khatia Dekanoidze who on March 14 removed Shevtsov from office and ordered checks into his activity.

Shevtsov himself, according to 112 Ukraine TV channel, said that the attempts to discredit him started immediately after he took under control the investigation of several high-profile criminal cases. And the accusations of separatism were initiated by an activist whose husband is a defendant on one of these cases.