Zelensky says senior officials named in drug ring tapes have no links to criminal network

Résumé détaillé

According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Khimprom drug ring has already made inroads into Poland and is trying to enter Germany. Ukraine has intelligence on this, Zelensky said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Nov. 13 that senior officials named in recordings released by Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency as part of a high-profile criminal investigation had no links to the alleged criminal network, citing anti-corruption officials.

Zelensky was referring to Health Minister Viktor Liashko, former Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, and lawmaker David Arakhamia. Their names appeared in recordings in which the alleged perpetrators discussed which senior officials they should seek to bribe or influence.

None of the three appear on the tapes published by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU).

"I asked the anti-corruption officials directly: 'Do you have anything on them?' They said: ‘No. Neither Liashko, nor Klymenko, nor Arakhamia has anything to do with any contacts with these people," Zelensky told journalists.

According to the tapes published by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, the transnational drug empire known as Khimprom planned to bribe Klymenko, now secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, and Liashko to keep its synthetic drugs off Ukraine's list of banned substances.

The plan failed, and the Anti-Corruption Bureau said Klymenko was not implicated.

According to Ukrainian investigators, the Khimprom drug network was founded by Yehor Burkin, a Russian-born fugitive known by the call sign "Mexican" in the Anti-Corruption Bureau's recordings. The recordings suggest that Burkin kept contact with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) during the full-scale war.

Burkin and Andrii Osipov, referred to as "Criminal," allegedly ran a network that protected scam call centers, sold synthetic drugs and attacked those attempting to uncover the group's illicit activity.

According to investigators, Burkin and Osipov were behind U420, a retail chain selling synthetic cannabinoids and psychotropic substances at purported "souvenir shops." To bypass restrictions, they repeatedly changed the chemical structure of the substances…

Début de l'article, extrait de The Kyiv Independent. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.