In Ukraine, a member of the country’s parliament identified in POLITICO as a “top” ally to Trump associate Rudy Giuliani has been charged with treason and accused of working on behalf of Russian governmental ambitions.
The figure is Oleksandr Dubinsky. Two others were also charged in the country, though they were identified as in hiding. Specifically, Dubinsky assisted in the highly publicized efforts by Giuliani and others to scrounge up politically damaging information on the Bidens before the 2020 elections, per POLITICO.
A group in which Dubinsky and others were allegedly involved to push those Russian aims received massive funding. “The main task of this organization was to take advantage of the tense political situation in Ukraine and discredit our state in the international arena. For this, the group was getting money from Russian military intelligence. Financing amounted to more than $10 million,” Ukraine alleged. Penalties for the treason offenses with which Dubinsky has been charged include up to a decade and a half in prison if found guilty.
In 2019, Dubinsky was involved in helping spread allegations of corruption implicating the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, which via Hunter Biden’s stint in its leadership has been used in a continuing series of GOP conspiracy theories about supposed Biden family corruption. Dubinsky and the other two individuals charged in Ukraine were already sanctioned by U.S. authorities. Dubinsky has himself posted an image with Giuliani, which he captioned with a discussion of Giuliani’s evident allegations of wide-reaching financial corruption in Ukraine and possible involvement of financial interests in the U.S.
The now charged Ukrainian politician has previously promoted flimsy claims of Ukrainian interference in U.S. electoral processes, allegations that could function to essentially distract from the real, documented Russian efforts at interfering in U.S. elections. And one of the others charged in the case, Andriy Derkach, has promoted claimed audiotapes of conversations between Joe Biden and a former Ukrainian president.
