Lawyer Novikov: Poroshenko is the only person against whom there are sanctions from both Putin and Zelensky

The criminal cases against Poroshenko, which were initiated by the State Bureau of Investigation based on Portnov’s statements, and the criminal cases against the fifth President in Russia have much in common. Lawyer Ilya Novikov recalled the recent report by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation regarding the accusations of “genocide of the people of Donbas” against Poroshenko and a number of other Ukrainian figures.

He said this while talking to journalists, “Pryamiy” reports.

The lawyer drew parallels between these cases.

“This situation is simply a striking coincidence, almost complete, between what is happening in the Russian investigation and what is happening in the SBI. We know that in March 2014, a separate main department was created in the Russian Investigative Committee to investigate what they call the ‘genocide of the Donetsk people’, or the ‘Luhansk people’, or the ‘Russian people’,” Novikov said.

He added that there was a gigantic pile of documents in this proceeding, over 100,000 so-called “witnesses” and over 20,000 so-called “victims.”

“The fact that they finally decided at the end of 2025 is a certain marker, certain signs of what is happening. First of all, we need to understand that the Russians are very invested in trying to legally whitewash their military aggression at the level of international institutions,” the lawyer explains.

Novikov noted that the second point that needs to be paid attention to is where the Basmanny Court came from.

“The Basmanny Court is a similar structure to the Pechersk Court. This is the main criminal court through which, including politically motivated decisions in criminal trials, are made,” says Novikov.

He also recalled that at a certain stage, over 100 proceedings were opened against Poroshenko in Ukraine, which were led by Andriy Portnov.

“They united, they separated, we can’t even quickly track how many there are now, so we are forced to say that there are dozens of them, but there are definitely dozens. There are dozens of criminal proceedings in Ukraine, we know for sure that Portnov’s signature is there. Andriy Portnov himself personally acted as the applicant in these proceedings, which absolutely fit into Russian narratives, fall into the logic that is in the Russian accusations against Poroshenko,” says Novikov.

He added that as of December 2025, when the Russians announced that they had transferred their criminal case to the so-called “Supreme Court of the Donetsk People’s Republic,” the proceedings at the State Bureau of Investigation have not been closed yet, even though Portnov has been gone for more than half a year.

“And this situation does not require explanation. On the contrary, I believe that it is so obvious, so obvious where these cases came from here in the State Bureau of Investigation and so obvious why the State Bureau of Investigation still does not consider it appropriate to say that they have already sorted it out and can close them. Maybe, finally, this will be the last incentive, when the Russians have determined that they are accusing Poroshenko, Zaluzhny, other generals, other officials who actually joined the war, the organization of resistance, both at the first stage since 2014 and during the full-scale invasion, of “genocide”. Maybe this will still be a sign that it is time to review and close the politically motivated criminal proceedings against Poroshenko here,” the lawyer believes.

Novikov noted that this is an absolutely absurd situation when it turns out that Poroshenko is the only person against whom there are simultaneous sanctions from Putin and Zelensky.

“He is the only person against whom there are criminal proceedings that are absolutely identical in terms of the logic behind them, both in the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office and in the State Bureau of Investigation as of December 2025,” Ilya Novikov summarizes.

It is worth recalling that on December 8 of this year it became known that the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia approved an indictment against the “senior political leadership” of Ukraine, in particular against Poroshenko , Zaluzhny, Turchynov and others.

Also, according to the Russian investigation, since April 2014, “the defendants and other officials, with the aim of genocide” of the population of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, “gave orders to subordinate servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other armed formations to use firearms, armored vehicles, and combat aircraft against civilians.”

Ukrainian figures were charged in absentia under the article on genocide , and the criminal case was transferred from the Basmanny Court in Moscow to a court in the occupied Donetsk region.

As is known, in 2024, Rosfinmonitoring added Petro Poroshenko to the register of “terrorists and extremists” for financing the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

By the way, the trial in the Cassation Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court on Petro Poroshenko’s lawsuit to cancel the illegal Decree on Sanctions is entering the finish line .

Earlier, the fifth President stated that the ideologist of the introduction of sanctions against him was Andriy Portnov, and the Office of the President implemented his concept. “On February 13, immediately after the NSDC meeting, during a visit to the Khmelnytskyi NPP , Zelensky, standing next to Galushchenko, a participant in Mindichgate who was dismissed from the government, emphasized that the reason for the sanctions was the billions withdrawn by Poroshenko. They have been boiling water in a mortar here for the 11th month, we have not heard a single word about billions,” the fifth President noted.

The day before, President Zelensky’s representative in the Supreme Court admitted that changes were made to the signed Decree on Enforcing the NSDC Decision on Sanctions against Poroshenko, which she called “technical amendments.”

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