Ukrainian Foreign Ministry sees element of 'hybrid war' in Yatsenyuk arrest in absentia
KYIV. March 29 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said it is outraged by the Russian court's decision to arrest former prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in absentia and called for international pressure on Russia to be increased.
"The absurd accusations of crimes that became the foundation for this decision have nothing to do with reality or common sense," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a commentary released on Tuesday.
In this regard, the Foreign Ministry stated the deterioration of the justice system in Russia, which, as Kyiv believes, persecutes "Ukrainian political figures and ordinary Ukrainians, dozens of which are illegally held in Russian prisons." The ministry also called the situation with Yatsenyuk "an element of a hybrid war" that is being used to take attention away from the real crimes committed on the territory of Ukraine.
"We are calling on the global community to increase pressure on Russia for the purpose of halting aggression against Ukraine and restoring respect for the fundamental norms and principles of international law," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
The Yessentuki City Court, Stavropol Territory, earlier arrested in absentia Arseniy Yatsenyuk, former prime minister of Ukraine and leader of the party People's Front, granting a request from an investigator from the Main Investigations Department of the Investigative Committee for the Northern Caucasus Federal District.
The investigators had requested Yatsenyuk's arrest in connection with the accusation of participation in an armed group. Yatsenyuk was also accused of premeditated murder with aggravating circumstances and preparations for a crime and attempted crime.
Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the Russian Investigative Committee, said in early September 2015 that Yatsenyuk had fought against the Russian troops in Chechnya in the 1990s as a member of the organization UNA-UNSO, which is banned in Russia.