A Ministry of Culture official will stand trial for justifying Russia's aggression
An employee of Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications will stand trial for justifying Russia’s armed aggression and making public statements calling for missile strikes against Ukraine.
According to the investigation, the head of one of the ministry’s departments justified Russia’s full-scale invasion during conversations, calling it “legitimate actions,” and also claimed that Ukraine had allegedly provoked the war and the strikes on its energy infrastructure itself.
In addition, according to the prosecutor’s office, the defendant discussed where Russian troops “would be best placed to launch missile strikes,” despite the fact that she lived in Kyiv and had witnessed the consequences of Russian attacks firsthand.
Forensic analyses confirmed that her statements contained justifications for Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine.
In March 2026, the woman was notified of the charges against her, and the pretrial investigation has now been completed. The indictment has been submitted to the court.
Her actions have been classified under Part 3 of Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine—justification, recognition as lawful, or denial of the Russian Federation’s armed aggression against Ukraine, committed by a public official.
The pretrial investigation was conducted by investigators from the SBU’s Main Directorate in Kyiv and the Kyiv region, with operational support from the SBU’s Cyber Department.
This was reported on July 17 by the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office.
As a reminder, Karandeyev, the former head of the Ministry of Culture, was placed under nighttime house arrest.
The former acting Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine was notified of his status as a suspect in a case involving the illegal departure of men abroad during martial law. According to the investigation, a scheme involving purported charity concerts and a fictitious musical group was used for this purpose.
