Contents tagged with Berkut

  • Media: Former Berkut officer suspected of Euromaidan shootings may have died in Syria

    Ruslan Horbik, a former Berkut officer who is wanted for sniper killings during Euromaidan, may have been killed in Syria while working for the Private Military Company (PMC) Wagner. The Ukrainian authorities are currently investigating this possibility, Hromadske reports. 

    Horbik fled from Ukraine to Russia at the end of February 2014, and obtained Russian citizenship in 2015. His mother, Nadezhda, said that he first worked in Russia as a masseur, and later got a job in the police. In …

  • Russia refuses to extradite to Ukraine former Berkut police member accused of killing Maidan protesters

    The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine received an official refusal from Russia to extradite the former deputy commander of the Berkut company, Dmytro Sadovnik, who was involved in crimes committed during the Euromaidan (Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity), as stated by the head of the special investigative department of the Prosecutor General's Office, Serhiy Horbatyuk, in a commentary to Krym.Realii.

    "The Russian Federation has responded that he is a citizen [of Russia], he was granted …

  • Russian lawyer: in prisoner exchange with separatists, Ukraine is ready to hand over former Berkut members and mercenaries from Russia

    In an interview with Radio Liberty, Russian lawyer Mark Feygin said that the exchange of prisoners between Ukraine and separatists in the Donbas will continue until the end of 2017 "because of Kyiv’s political reasons".

    Feygin reiterated that the agreement on the exchange of prisoners under the "300 for 80" plan had been achieved as early as 2016. The exchange was planned for the autumn summit of the Normandy Four countries in Berlin. At that moment, the lawyer notes, a "principled agreement …

  • Russia refuses to extradite to Ukraine former commander of the Berkut special police suspected of killing Maidan protesters

    The Russian Federation refused the request of the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine to detain and extradite Serhiy Kusyuk, the former chief of the Kyiv regiment of the Berkut Special Police Force of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

    "Russia refused to extradite him," the head of the special investigations department of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, Serhiy Horbatyuk, told Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Tuesday, October 7. Horbatyuk said the Russian Federation …

  • The Ukrainian Prosecutor’s General Office has demanded that Russia extradite the ex-commander of the Berkut Special Police

    The Prosecutor General's Office (GPU) has asked Russia to detain and extradite Serhiy Kusyuk, the former chief of the Kyiv Special Police Regiment, Berkut, as reported by the head of the GPU Department of Special Investigations, Sergei Gorbatyuk on 112 Ukraine.

    “A request was sent to the Russian Federation to detain and extradite him,” he said.

    So far, there has been no answer from the Russian Federation.  

    Gorbatyuk also noted that Kusyuk was made aware of GPU’s suspicion during seven …

  • Four of the Maidan dispersers from Berkut special force decided to seek refuge in Russia

    Four former members of the Kharkiv battalion of the “Berkut” special division crossed the border and moved into Russia, their lawyer Valentin Rybin told RIA Novosti.

    On April 13, they sat on a bus and went to Russia. “They crossed the Ukraine-Russia border without incident after completing the necessary border crossing measures and after the end of the pretrial investigation. Taking into consideration the pressure put on them by the Prosecutor General’s Office, and the fact that several …

  • Members of Berkut Special Forces who were involved in Maidan killings are being protected by Russia

    In Kyiv, five employees of the Berkut special police force who are accused of shooting Euromaidan activists in 2014 are being tried. Despite this, Russia and the DPR (Donetsk People's Republic) have included them in the prisoner exchange list. The Russian Federation has also granted citizenship to another ten who are wanted in Ukraine. 

    Advisor to the head of the Security Service of Ukraine Yuriy Tandit confirmed that the DPR wants to exchange the accused Berkut special police members through …