MOSCOW, July 18-RIA Novosti. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) "summoned" Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to "hand over a written suspicion" and "conduct procedural actions", the corresponding document was published by the Ukrainian publication "Glavkom".
The minister is charged with allegedly "creating paramilitary armed formations that are not provided for by law". The Security Service of Ukraine "obliged" Shoigu to appear on July 20 in Mariupol at the Main Directorate (GU) of the SBU in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The summons was signed by senior investigator of the SBU State Security Service Taras Butenko.
This is not the first time that the Ukrainian law enforcement agency is trying to conduct investigative actions with Russians. In August 2016, the then Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko announced his intention to arrest Shoigu and 17 high-ranking Russians, then the Kiev authorities suspected them of crimes "against the foundations of national security of Ukraine".
In 2014, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry summoned LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, chairman of the Communist Party Central Committee Gennady Zyuganov and the head of Just Russia, Sergei Mironov, for questioning. In 2017, the main Military Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine summoned Russian Deputy Defense Ministers Nikolai Pankov and Dmitry Bulgakov, as well as Deputy head of the Russian Navy Alexander Fedotenkov, for questioning. In February of this year, the Ukrainian special service also brought charges against the deputy head of the Russian Defense Ministry, Colonel-General Andrei Kartapolov. In all these cases, the Ukrainian structures declared their intention to arrest the Russians, but it never reached the real actions or consequences.
The Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly accused Russia of interfering in the internal affairs of the country. In January 2015, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a statement calling Russia an "aggressor country". In particular, Kiev believes that Moscow is allegedly a party to the conflict in the Donbas. Russia has repeatedly stressed that the state did not interfere in the internal Ukrainian conflict. Moscow also noted that it is not involved in the events in the south-east of Ukraine and is interested in the country overcoming the political and economic crisis.
