SBU charges former minister Klymenko over mine deal in occupied Luhansk region

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has issued a new notice of suspicion to Oleksandr Klymenko, a former minister under Yanukovych who fled to Russia in 2014 after the Revolution of Dignity, the agency reported on its website.

He is accused of collaborating with the aggressor state by establishing the Rodina financial and industrial group in Moscow, which profits from mining operations in the occupied Luhansk region.

In 2024, the Russian occupation authorities leased the Bilorichenska mine—once one of Ukraine’s largest coal enterprises—to Klymenko. He signed an agreement with the occupation administration in the Luhansk region that included an option to purchase the mine, and obtained a Russian license to develop its coal seams.

According to the SBU, Rodina directs most of its profits to supporting Russian military forces by paying taxes into the Russian budget.

As a result, Klymenko was served with a notice of suspicion under Part 2 of Article 28 and Article 111-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (collaboration with the aggressor state).

Klymenko has been wanted since May 2014 in a case involving the creation of so-called "software companies" used in a large-scale tax evasion scheme. In 2019, he was arrested in absentia, and in 2023 he was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship.