The United States found a “Russian agent” in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and imposed sanctions against him. This was reported on the website of the US Treasury Department.
According to the ministry's statement, Rada deputy Andriy Derkach has been actively working for Russia for more than ten years and maintains close ties with the Russian special services. The US ministry noted that the Ukrainian politician directly and indirectly obstructed the upcoming presidential elections in 2020. The US representatives stressed that the imposition of sanctions against Derkach should be a signal to Moscow and its “puppets” that such actions are unacceptable.
The United States also imposed sanctions on three Russians. The black list includes Russian citizens Anton Andreev, Daria Aslanova and Artem Lifshits, who are allegedly connected with the Internet Research Agency, which manipulated the elections.
Derkach previously released tapes of conversations allegedly involving former US Vice President Joe Biden and the fifth President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko. At them, the former US vice president, in particular, offered a billion dollars for the resignation of Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who was investigating the activities of the oil and gas company Burisma. In Ukraine, a case has been initiated on treason and the illegal use of “special technical means of obtaining information.”