Security Service of Ukraine opens high treason case against pro-Russian propagandist Petrov, Zhelezniak says

SBU opens high treason case against blogger Petrov

The Security Service of Ukraine has opened criminal proceedings against Petrov on suspicion of high treason.

Censor.NET reports this, citing the YouTube channel of Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a member of parliament from the Holos party.

"On 14 January 2026, the SBU opened a criminal case against Petrov under Part 1 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code - treason," he wrote.

Zhelezniak provided some details from the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations:

"Citizen of Ukraine Petrov V.V., being a blogger, television host, and producer of Lumpen Production LLC, acting to the detriment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability, defense capability, state, economic and information security of Ukraine, using his own media resources, namely the media projects ‘Islandia,’ ‘School of Corruption,’ and ‘Lumpen Show,’ provided a foreign state — the Russian Federation — with assistance in conducting subversive activities against Ukraine, thereby committing high treason under martial law.

Thus, in his public appearances, Petrov V.V. categorically denied the fact of the invasion of regular troops into the territory of Ukraine, stating that the war is civil in nature and that the terrorist organizations "DPR" and "LPR" are state entities with their own authorities, promoted the idea of abandoning Ukrainian state symbols for the sake of "reconciliation," and deliberately carried out information and psychological operations to disrupt the process of mobilizing citizens into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine."

The MP also published screenshots of documents:

Background

Earlier, MP Zhelezniak reported that Zelenskyy’s PR aide Petrov was employed at the National Military Memorial Cemetery (NMMC) by the institution’s director Proniutkin.
Zhelezniak also published material in which he said that political strategist Volodymyr Petrov and journalist Serhii Ivanov had received an exemption from mobilisation.
Petrov has been working at the "National Military Memorial Cemetery" since 31 July 2025. Ivanov has also been employed at "Energoatom" since July.
They received their exemptions right after the attack on NABU and SAPO.
The NMMC later confirmed that Petrov works for them.
The Ministry of Veterans Affairs announced the start of an official investigation into the exemptions at the National Military Memorial Cemetery.
On 20 January, Minister for Veterans Affairs Natalia Kalmykova announced that Volodymyr Petrov had resigned from the National Military Memorial Cemetery.