Russia has issued arrest warrants for Ukraine’s former prime minister, foreign minister, finance minister and military commander, Moscow’s court system announced on social media Tuesday.
Ex-prime minister Volodymyr Groysman, ex-foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin, ex-finance minister Alexander Shlapak and Ukraine army general Ihor Dovgan are accused of using “prohibited methods of warfare.” The crime is punishable by up to six years in prison.
Moscow’s Basmanny District Court ordered that the four officials be given two months of pre-trial detention in absentia.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, in April charged Groysman and Klimkin with “supporting the decision” to fight Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine a decade ago as members of Ukraine’s national security and defense council.
Dovgan was accused of training and coordinating the Ukrainian forces before deployment and Shlapak of financing the operation.
Mediazona, an independent news outlet that reports on the Russian justice and penal systems, reported that the court ruling against Klimkin and Shlapak took place in late June.