The General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine wants to indict former President Petro Poroshenko (2014-2019). He had "committed high treason in cooperation with representatives of the Russian leadership and favored the activities of terrorist organizations by illegally buying coal". This involves deliveries of hard coal to Ukrainian state-owned companies from mines in occupied eastern Ukraine, where Russian and pro-Russian fighters have effectively expropriated large parts of heavy industry since 2014. The coal was presumably labeled as "Russian" coal by the sellers and delivered via Russia in order to preserve the appearance of legality. The investigation continued, the agency said.
Poroshenko, today leader of the opposition and head of the “European Solidarity” party, a partner party of the EPP, reported on Tuesday with a Facebook video from Warsaw. He said that under his successor, the current President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, the land bought "for three billion dollars of coal" from Russia and the occupied territories. One will still have to talk about who the "traitor" is. Poroshenko announced that he would return to Ukraine in the first half of January. But now the country must first “unite to save Ukraine and fight back Russian aggression”. The governments of many EU and NATO countries fear a new military action by Russia against Ukraine in the next few weeks and have warned Moscow against such a step.
Illegal coal deliveries from occupied eastern Ukraine have been lamented for years.
In 2019, the Ukrainian group DTEK said that high-quality coal from there, around 500,000 tons per month, will also be delivered to several EU countries, including Poland and Germany.
However, they would not have responded to complaints.