SBU exposes five more Kremlin puppet officials and organizers of sham referendums in Luhansk Oblast

SBU exposes five more Kremlin puppet officials and organizers of sham referendums in Luhansk Oblast
SBU exposes five more Kremlin puppet officials and organizers of sham referendums in Luhansk Oblast

Ruslan Mardanov, Pavlo Pilavov, Roman Lysenko, Volodymyr Poliakov and Ivan Sanaiev are in the list of suspenders. All of them were hiding in Luhansk Oblast but their locations have been established by the SBU.

Read also: Ten organizers of sham referendum in Luhansk puppet authority facing charges

They are suspected of collaboration and encroachment on Ukraine's territorial integrity.

Some of the suspects supported false legislation on the annexation of Luhansk Oblast.

According to the SBU, the suspects initiated voting for the false legislation and applied to the leader of the "Luhansk People's Republic (LPR)" militants and Kremlin puppet, Leonid Pasichnyk, "to sign the illegal act."

It revealed that Pasichnyk's relative, who is sanctioned by Ukraine and its western allies due to especially serious crimes, is also a suspect.

Read also: How the "referendum" in the "LPR" actually looked like - eyewitness reports

The investigation also revealed that all of the suspects have been collaborating with the occupiers' administration since 2014, and had been declared so-called "deputies" of the bogus "People's Council of the LPR."

The suspects contributed to the strengthening of the Kremlin regime in the region, and supported the activities of illegal armed units fighting against Ukraine, the SBU’s message reads.

After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine had begun, the suspects initiated sham referendums and false legislation on annexing parts of Ukraine. They also took part in propaganda videos calling on people to "vote" for joining Russia.

The SBU noted they also travelled through the region to persuade locals to vote to join the aggressor country.

Read also: Russian "referenda" in occupied parts of Ukraine have no legal value, UN Secretary-General says

The sham referendums were organized under the patronage of United Russia political party representatives, using the Kremlin's PR-technologies, the press office said.

On Sept. 29, "the results" of sham referendums that were held on the temporarily occupied areas of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts were declared as 87% and 99% "votes in favor.".

On Sept. 30, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin signed "decree" on annexation of Ukrainian areas under Russian occupation in DNR, LNR, Kherson and Zaporizhzhzia oblasts.

On Nov. 4, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy approved the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) decision that rendered negotiations with Putin impossible.

Read also: SBU uncovers more Russian propaganda materials at Moscow-aligned orthodox seminary

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine