KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th July, 2020) Ukraine's prosecutor general's office has launched a high treason probe into lawmaker and head of the parliamentary energy committee Andriy Gerus and former Energy Minister Oleksiy Orzhel for importing electric power from Russia, RBC-Ukraine news outlet reported on Thursday, citing the country's pretrial investigations registry.
The investigation is said to have been initiated into a possible high treason by way of alleged conspiracy by Orzhel, Gerus, and Dmytro Kovalenko, a member of the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities, which allegedly undermined Ukraine's energy security by deciding to lift restrictions on electric energy imports from Russia.
In 2019, former lawmaker Oleh Lyashko said he would ask the Ukrainian law enforcement agencies to arrest Gerus for high treason over the permission to purchase Russian electricity via bilateral agreements lobbied by Gerus.
In December 2019, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law banning electricity imports from Russia under bilateral agreements.
