Former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, accused of treason in the case of a criminal scheme for supplying coal from the territories of Donbas not controlled by KievKIEV, Feb 11Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko admitted in court on Friday that he gave instructions to take four billion hryvnias (nearly $145 million) in cash and gold out of Russian-controlled Crimea and called Russian President Vladimir Putin about it in 2014. The court in Kiev on Friday, he began considering appeals from the defense and the prosecutor's office against Poroshenko's preventive measure in the form of a personal obligation. Prosecutors are asking for Poroshenko to be arrested with the possibility of posting a bail of about $35.7 million. The defense asks the court to cancel the personal obligation and not apply any measure of restraint to Poroshenko.The expert appreciated the idea of providing asylum in Russia for Poroshenko «I would like to confess: yes, I gave instructions directly on the movement of cash across the line of contact with the occupied Crimea,» Poroshenko said. The broadcast was conducted on the YouTube channel of the court. He noted that he gave instructions to three people who then headed the departments — the head of the National Bank Valeria Gontareva, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov and the head of the Security Council Vasily Gritsak. “Moreover, I called Putin about this, and it was in 2014. And the amount of this cash was four billion hryvnias, plus gold, plus the assets of the Ukrainian National Bank, which, due to my diplomatic work, devotion to my work… employees of the national bank, The brilliant work of the police and security officers were brought to the vaults of the National Bank from the occupied territory of Crimea, which were stored in the safes of the republican branch,» Poroshenko said. He claims that if he had not done anything, these funds from Crimea would allegedly have been transported to Donetsk .
Poroshenko asked the court to cancel his preventive measurePoroshenko is suspected of treason and aiding terrorism in the case of coal supplies from Donbass, he faces up to 15 years in prison freedom. On January 17 he arrived in Kiev from Warsaw. Earlier, the ex-president stated that 130 criminal cases were initiated against him, but about 40 of them have already been closed. The ex-president also has the status of a suspect in the criminal case on the appointment of Serhiy Semochko as deputy head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine — he is charged with abuse of power. Poroshenko appears in a number of cases, including the appointment of judges, the movement of paintings across the state border, the incident with Ukrainian ships in the Kerch Strait, and the transfer of land. In these cases, the ex-president has the status of a witness.
