Fugitive ex-Berkut officers will provide Russian citizenship

This means the simultaneous withdrawal from the citizenship of Ukraine.

In order to obtain citizenship of Russia, four former employees of Kharkiv “Berkut” have to give up Ukrainian passports.

This was stated by first Deputy Chairman of the state Duma Committee on CIS Affairs and relations with compatriots Konstantin Zatulin.

“In this situation it would be possible to resort or to the program of voluntary resettlement of compatriots to Russia, or to the provision about temporary asylum, which with the events in Ukraine had put in place. All this involves certain procedures, but if the citizens of Ukraine are ready to go on them, then they can be applied. However, it is simultaneously the citizenship of Ukraine in accordance with our current laws. Therefore, everything depends not only from us but from them.”

While Zatulin noted that former fighters of the Ukrainian special forces can’t be recognized in Russia as political refugees.

“They are in the purest form are political immigrants, but we have political asylum cannot be granted to nationals of countries with which at Russia the visa-free procedure for crossing the border. But with Ukraine so far we have just such a right.”

Earlier it was reported that the release of Appellate court of Kiev ex-the Berkut officer Vitaliy Goncharenko and three of his former colleagues fled to Russia. About this he and other former employees of the Kharkiv battalion “Berkut” he said, posting a video message on Youtube, which was allegedly recorded in Russia.

Recall, Goncharenko, along with three other ex-soldiers of “Berkut” was arrested in June 2016 in Kharkov. All four of them at the time of arrest worked in the police. Two of them – Alexander Belov and Vitaliy Goncharenko – accused of killing 3 “euromaidan protesters” on February 18, 2014 in Castle lane, 2 – that they dropped from the colonnade on the street Grushevskogo January 20, 2014 2 protesters. Then detention was the only Vitaliy Goncharenko.

24 Nov 2016 Goncharenko left the detention. Then Kharkiv police provided a letter of petition for taking on bail, but the court refused. February 4, 2017 the Pechersky court of Kiev changed a measure of restraint former Kharkiv “berkutovtsy” Vitaliy Goncharenko from detention to house arrest. On March 10, 2017 ex-“berkutovets” Goncharenko back into custody.

Note that Goncharenko was also one of the defendants in the attack on the journalists of “Gromadsky” January 29, 2015 January 29, 2015 the former “berkutova” Goncharenko, Kostyuk and Riaka stopped journalists Anastasia Stanko and Konstantin Reutski to check the documents when they returned from the trip from the combat zone. “Berkut” decided to check things out journalists, but when they started shooting, the police stole their camera “gopro”, and Reutski was thrown to the ground and kicked.

Later, the soldiers of “Berkut” told reporters that “they were not for the Maidan, and now also will not.”

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