Former MP Oleksandr Shepelev, who is accused of high treason, contract killings, financial and corruption crimes and may be released due to the decision of the Supreme Court, supports the annexation of Crimea by Russia, justifies the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin and confesses his love for the Russian language. This is evidenced by the video of his conversation with an employee of the Russian Federal Security Service, which is available to UNN.
When asked by the FSB officer what difference does it make whose Crimea is, Shepelev said: "It makes absolutely no difference". Moreover, the former Ukrainian MP said that allegedly "ordinary Ukrainians" support Russia's annexation of Crimea.
"The Black Sea is already Russia. I always liked to go to Crimea, we go to the Carpathians, and to central, eastern and western Ukraine. Donbas is my homeland, my parents are buried there. But I would like to put things in order there. First of all, it is clear that it is not realistic to give it (Ukraine - ed.) to NATO troops, to have NATO ships in the Black Sea, and I think the Americans and everyone else understands this perfectly well," Shepelev said.
He added that he understands Putin's actions and would never have allowed it in his place, "because it is the integrity of my state and I am obliged to defend Russia, but what troops (NATO in Ukraine - ed.), it is impossible."
Shepelev emphasized that he personally traveled to the regions of Ukraine, talked to "ordinary people," and all of them allegedly expressed their support for Russia. In particular, according to him, Ukrainians allegedly supported Russia in Vinnytsia and Khmelnytsky regions, in Donbas, Crimea and Kherson. In this way, Shepelev promoted the narrative that "we are all Slavs" and "one people."
"The majority of people (in Ukraine - ed.) are all for Russia. The fact that they say that 70% are for Europe, believe me, everyone spits on that Europe," he argued.
He also said that when he found himself in Russia, he stopped communicating with Ukrainian politicians. Shepelev emphasized that in Russia, "everyone is their own."
At the same time, he said, he does not feel that Russia is an evil empire, and noted that he is angry with the United States.
Shepelev emphasized that he supported granting Russian the status of the second state language. "I voted twice for the Russian language - it was my principled position. I was asked: what are you doing? I said: I want to, because I need the Russian language, I love it, I want my children to speak Russian and read Pushkin's poems in Russian, not Ukrainian," he emphasized during interrogation by the FSB.
The former MP also admitted that during his term in office he had done work that violated Ukrainian law. "It's a long story to tell, to explain. Perhaps it's just better that I am killed," he said.
In addition, Shepelev was proud of the fact that his grandparents were from Russia. The former MP even confused the Ukrainian city of Lutsk with the Russian city of Lipetsk.
Shepelev emphasized to the FSB that the mess in Ukraine needs to be ended harshly.
Earlier, we talked about Shepelev's close cooperation with the Russian intelligence services of the GRU and the FSB. In particular, UNN has documents written by Shepelev himself, which say that he is a recruited agent, dreams of living in Russia and is applying for refugee status there.
Earlier it became known that prosecutor Victoria Orshavska filed a complaint with the HCJ against Supreme Court judges Korol V.V., Marynych V.K. and Markovets A.M., who considered the cassation in Shepelev's case and on July 6, 2023, changed the verdict of the courts of previous instances and almost released Shepelev.
According to the automatic distribution, the complaint in Shepelev's case will be considered by the first ever judge-member of the HCJ, who is fighting on the frontline against the Russian Federation, Olena Kovbiy
In particular, the Supreme Court panel decided to close one of the episodes of the case, which concerned bribery, due to insufficient evidence.
In addition, the judges significantly reduced Shepelev's sentence, counting the period of his stay in the Russian pre-trial detention center from March 19, 2015 to July 8, 2016. At that time, Russian law enforcement officers detained him following an extradition request from Ukraine. While the issue of his extradition to Ukraine was allegedly being resolved, Shepelev actively cooperated with the Russian Federal Security Service and was supposed to be held in a pre-trial detention center. A year later, Russia still refused to extradite the fugitive MP to Ukrainian justice, citing threats to its own national security.
The Supreme Court panel also took advantage of the Savchenko law and counted Shepeleva's time in the pre-trial detention center on charges in other cases as part of his sentence.
Thus, according to the decision of the cassation instance, Shepelev has fully served his sentence under the verdict of the Desnianskyi District Court of Kyiv of August 7, 2020. In addition, due to the closure of the bribery cases, the former MP's property will not be confiscated.
As a reminder, Shepelev was detained in 2014 in the case of the murder of four people and the attempted murder of banker Serhiy Dyadechko. However, the former MP managed to escape from custody through a "hospital scheme". For four years, he was hiding in Russia and was detained by Ukrainian law enforcement only in 2018.
In addition to the case of ordering the murders of five people, Ukrainian courts are also considering cases on charges of high treason and embezzlement of Rodovid Bank funds.