Arrest without the right to bail: Former “minister” of the occupying regime in Crimea detained in Kyiv
30 June 14:59
The former head of the so-called “Ministry of Fuel and Energy of the Republic of Crimea” of the Crimean occupation government was detained in Kyiv. This was reported by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol, as well as the SBU, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
“Prosecutors of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, together with investigators from the Main Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, apprehended the former ‘minister’ from the temporarily occupied Crimea in Kyiv. He has been notified that he is suspected of high treason. The suspect is a 65-year-old Ukrainian citizen who, according to the investigation, has held the position of ‘chairman of the Crimean Autonomous Republic’s Republican Committee on Fuel, Energy, and Innovation Policy’ since 2012,” the statement reads.
It should be noted that in 2014, the position of the so-called “fuel minister” in Crimea was held by 65-year-old Serhiy Kolobov. Since 2012, he had served as chairman of the Crimean Committee on Fuel and Energy.
According to the statement, it has been established that during the occupation of the peninsula, the man voluntarily agreed to head the so-called “Ministry of Fuel and Energy of the Republic of Crimea,” thereby becoming part of the occupying administration of the aggressor state.
“In fact, immediately after the temporary annexation, he obtained Russian citizenship and offered his assistance to the Russian occupiers. Subsequently, the local Gauleiter Aksyonov appointed him as the so-called ‘Minister of Fuel and Energy of the Republic of Crimea,’” the SBU clarified.
In this “position,” the suspect helped the Russian Federation’s occupation administration establish control over the peninsula’s strategically important energy infrastructure.
This includes the Simferopol and Sevastopol thermal power plants, the Tavriya Thermal Power Plant, a network of solar and wind power plants, gas pipelines and gas compressor stations, as well as oil depots and oil terminals in Kerch and Feodosia.
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Furthermore, during the two years following his “appointment,” he attempted to integrate and “re-register” Crimean energy assets under the laws of the aggressor state.
“While holding this position, he organized the work of an illegally established government body and facilitated the implementation of the enemy’s policies in the fuel and energy sector on the peninsula,” prosecutors emphasize, according to the statement.
Subsequently, the suspect resigned from the so-called “ministry” and continued to work in occupied Crimea as the “director” of a number of joint-stock companies controlled by the Russian Federation.
In 2026, the former official arrived in territory controlled by Ukraine and settled in Kyiv. The SBU notes that the man came to attend to personal matters. Law enforcement officers located him and detained him.
“During a search of his temporary residence, the man’s foreign and domestic passports, as well as electronic devices, were seized,” the statement reads.
At the prosecutor’s request, the court imposed a preventive measure on him—detention without the right to bail. The investigation is ongoing.
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