The State Bureau of Investigation has detained a former Party of Regions MP for trade with Russia, reported the SBI and the Office of the Prosecutor General.

A law enforcement source told LIGA.net that it was Hryhoriy Dashutin, an MP of the III-IV convocations. His family owns the Nikmas concern.

The investigation found that even after the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war in 2014, the concern's enterprises continued to provide Russian enterprises, including the military, with industrial equipment with the help of foreign and Russian proxy companies.

After February 24, 2022, the supplies did not stop – during this time, the concern sold UAH 160 million ($4.3 million) worth of components to the aggressor state through intermediaries.

Among the concern's clients were Russian manufacturers of ammunition (Sibpribormash), aircraft (Smolensk Aviation Plant), spacecraft (Miass Machine-Building Plant), and critical infrastructure enterprises (Federal Passenger Company, Volga-Balt Administration, Sakhalinenergo, Kuzbassenergo).

At the request of the State Bureau of Investigation, in November 2022, the concern's property was seized, including two factories in Sumy and Poltava, a shopping mall in Sumy, a number of apartments in Kyiv, and luxury cars. The total value of the seized property exceeds UAH 1 billion ($27.1 million).

As part of the investigation, the SBI has pressed charges against eight people, who are charged with creating a criminal organization and aiding the aggressor state (Art. 255 and Art. 111-2 of the Criminal Code). Six of them, including Dashutin, were detained.

"Books glorifying Russia and promoting its imperial narratives and Russian insignia were found in the former MP's possession. Some of the suspects had Russian passports and contracts with Russia," the Prosecutor General's Office said.

The sanction of the articles provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for up to 12 years.

Another six defendants, including Russian citizens, will be charged in absentia.