An attack was planned on the Minister of Agrarian Policy, the police raised suspicions of the attackers - Denis Monastyrsky
An attempt was planned on the Minister of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine Roman Leshchenko. The police conducted a special operation to stage the crime and detained the suspects, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Denis Monastyrsky said at a special briefing.
“In August, the Department of Strategic Investigations of the National Police received information that a Ukrainian citizen is looking for a killer to commit the murder of another citizen of Ukraine. The National Police receives dozens of similar reports. Law enforcement officers checked the information and realized that it corresponds to reality,” Denis Monastyrsky said.
He added that the female intermediary, who was looking for the perpetrator of the crime, was led by an operative combination to a person who agreed to cooperate voluntarily with the police, playing the role of a killer. During the intermediary's communication with this “killer”, which was carefully documented by the police, it was established that the customer of the crime was actually a US citizen engaged in agricultural business in Ukraine.
“The person they wanted to kill was hired by the customers in order to force out debts from another citizen of Ukraine. In 2018, he worked as the director of an agricultural enterprise owned by a US citizen. But the victim, having taken money for “knocking out” debts, stole them and hid from customers. As part of documenting the assassination attempt, during covert investigative and investigative actions, police officers created the impression from the attackers that the victim was kidnapped. The customers, a citizen of Ukraine and a citizen of the United States, came to one of the villages of the Kiev region to check the fulfillment of their task. There, in the basement of a private house, they were shown a victim with tied hands, dressed as if she had been beaten to death,” the head of the law enforcement agency explained.
The attackers made sure that the work of the “killer” was real and immediately ordered another victim. She became the person they worked with, trying to take property and get imaginary debts. This victim was to be Roman Leshchenko, who at that time, in 2018, had not yet worked as a member of the Government.
“Last night there was a meeting of the fake “killer” and customers. During the conversation, they discussed all the details of the upcoming crime. The attackers instructed the person they considered a killer to kidnap and torture Roman Leshchenko. As a reward for the crime, the executor of the order was given an advance payment of 20 thousand US dollars. This money is withdrawn and attached to the materials of the case. Suspects in the crime of a US citizen and a citizen of Ukraine were detained in accordance with Art. 208 PCS. They have already been declared suspected of several articles of particularly serious crimes. They are punishable by life imprisonment,” Denis Monastyrsky emphasized.
The head of the National Police Igor Klymenko stressed that the video materials shown at the briefing are only a small part of the evidence base that has been collected so far.
“Suspicions are raised under four articles of the Criminal Code: kidnapping, extortion, inflicting grievous bodily harm and attempted murder. All detained persons at this time have been placed in a temporary detention facility,” Ihor Klymenko noted.
He also said that the main motive for the crime was money.
“I especially want to emphasize the cynicism of this situation. The customers also offered the killer to rob the victim and share everything that can be stolen with the customer,” the head of the National Police said.
Minister of Agrarian Policy Roman Leshchenko noted that only a few hours ago he returned from a business trip when he was informed about the planned crime.
“This situation shocks me, but I want to say the following. If anyone believes that any threats, assassinations, blackmail or physical removal will make it possible to avoid legal liability, then I want to assure you that you have no prospects in this matter. All materials, all data on Ukrainian land, all backup copies of the state land cadastre — all this is in the hands of law enforcement agencies. And by eliminating, intimidating, you will not achieve anything. I want to thank the Ministry of Internal Affairs for their professional work and for ensuring law and order and everything that is required of me to cooperate with the investigation... I am fully open to interaction,” he said.
Recall that on December 17, 2020, the Council appointed Leshchenko as Minister of Agrarian Policy, before that he was the head of the State Service for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre. Prior to public office, he worked in the agrarian sector and founded several agricultural companies.
Department of Communications of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
Photo by Andriy Novytskyi
