Lawyer Salmina, who has been receiving money from Kremlin for years, now evaluates draft laws in Rada, - media
Yana Salmina, chief scientific advisor to the Verkhovna Rada, received money from the Kremlin for years for pro-Russian activities in Ukraine.
This is stated in the material of the "Schemes" project, as reported by Censor.NET.
Details
Salmina currently works at the Main Scientific and Expert Directorate (GNEU), which is part of the Verkhovna Rada apparatus and evaluates draft laws, in particular, in terms of their consequences and compliance with the Constitution.
According to "Schemes", three years before working in the Verkhovna Rada apparatus, Salmina received funding from the Russian state budget for "protecting the Russian minority in Ukraine."
"The funds were transferred to the accounts of public organisations that Salmina and her husband still head, and were spent on the systematic promotion of the Russian language in Ukraine," the authors write.
Journalists were able to establish this by analysing documents leaked from "Pravfond," an organisation created by the Kremlin to "support compatriots abroad".
Over five years (2012-2016), "Pravfond" was able to provide organisations linked to the civil servant with at least 20 million roubles (almost half a million dollars), according to the leaked documents.
Visits to Moscow
The article also states that in 2016, Salmina travelled to Moscow twice for talks with "Pravfond" head Igor Panevkin and his advisor Vyacheslav Yelagin. Three years later, she became a civil servant in the Ukrainian parliament.
Father - citizen of the Russian Federation
Salmina lives in his father's apartment in Kyiv. His father is a Russian citizen who lives in the Moscow region.
Over the past ten years, Salmin has received almost 14 million roubles in Russia from the "Air Force" Institute of the Russian Ministry of Defence and a number of state-owned military-industrial enterprises, most of which are part of "Rostec" and are subject to international sanctions.
The civil servant does not mention this property in her declaration.
Neither Salmina nor her father have commented on the journalists' findings.
Reaction in the Verkhovna Rada apparatus
Journalists asked Svitlana Tykhoniuk, head of the GNEU, if she knew about Salmina's ties to Russia.
"You have just barged into my space, and I am working on an important task. I cannot even comprehend what you have just told me. When you have the opportunity, please make an appointment, and then I will be able to answer you," she replied and hung up the phone.
Journalists outlined the facts about Salmina in a letter addressed to Viacheslav Shtuchnyi, Head of the Verkhovna Rada Apparatus.
They responded that they had taken them into account and had already appointed an official investigation into Salmina and forwarded the findings of "Schemes" to the NACP and the SSU with a request for additional checks.
"The Apparatus adheres to the principles of zero tolerance, in particular, to any threats to national security. In view of the information contained in your letter, the Apparatus has forwarded copies of it to the Security Service of Ukraine and the National Agency for Corruption Prevention for verification of the facts within their competence," the response said.
"We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the facts set out in your appeal regarding Yana Salmina's activities in 2012-2016 relate to the period of her life before she started working in the Apparatus as a civil servant," they added.
Based on the results of the checks, the Verkhovna Rada promises to take measures, about which it will provide additional information.
