Kyiv court arrests Kremlin ideologue Chistilin

Kyiv's Shevchenkivskyi District Court has chosen a measure of restraint in the form of detention until December 4 without the possibility of posting bail for Dmitry Chistilin, a Kremlin ideologue of Russia's armed aggression who was deported from Moldova.

Oleksandr Safarian, prosecutor with the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office, said this in a comment to Ukrinform.

"The court granted the request and selected a preventive measure for Chistilin in the form of detention until December 4 without the possibility of putting up bail," he said.

Safarian noted that Chistilin, who has dual citizenship of Ukraine and Russia, had been charged with treason and justification of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine.

According to the investigation, the suspect lives in Russia and is an active fighter for the "Russian world." After the start of Russia's full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine, he began to actively and publicly deny it and, acting together with Russian officials and political figures, he developed and implemented a strategy of information warfare with Ukraine with the aim of its speedy integration into the Russian sphere of influence.

Also, the suspect came to Moldova to fulfill the task of his curators, in particular an ex-adviser to the Russian president, to promote Russian narratives on its territory and to strengthen the informational influence of the aggressor state on the internal and foreign policy of the sovereign state.

Moldova's special services established that the suspect posed a threat to its national security and deported him to Ukraine, where the man was detained on suspicion of committing a number of crimes.

The case is being investigated by employees of the main investigations department of the Security Service of Ukraine.

The Security Service announced on October 8 that together with foreign partners and the State Border Guard Service, it conducted a special operation during which it detained Dmitry Chistilin, a Kremlin ideologue of Russia's armed aggression.

Law enforcement officials believe that during 2016-2024, Chistilin prepared a number of "analytical materials" for the Kremlin, in which he supported Russia's armed aggression and the "integration" of the temporarily captured regions of Ukraine into Russia.