The SSU has collected evidence on the organizers of the pro-kremlin TV and radio company Tavria, currently operating in the temporarily occupied part of Kherson oblast.

The investigation identified that the enemy ‘media project’ had been launched by a well-known kremlin political strategist Oleksandr Malkevych.

Since 2018, he has been a close associate of Yevheny Prigozhin, head of the russian PMC Wagner.

It was under his coordination that Malkevich created media projects in various countries to spread pro-kremlin content.

After the start of the full-scale invasion, he launched the so-called ‘Tavria TV and radio company’ in the occupied Kherson on the basis of the seized premises of Suspilne Television.

In this, the political strategist received full assistance from the local gauleiter Saldo and his subordinate - ‘minister of information policy of Kherson region’, collaborator Brykov.

Tavria was used as the kremlin’s regional mouthpiece to spread fake news about the situation at the front and in Ukraine-controlled territory and to support the sham referendum on Kherson oblast’s ‘accession’ to russia.

The head of the ‘TV company’ is Ismail Abdulayev, a propagandist from the terrorist organization ‘DNR’ and former director of the pro-kremlin TV channel Oplot in temporarily occupied Donetsk. Several other like-minded people also joined the ‘Tavria project’.

During Kherson’s liberation, Tavria’s staff fled with the occupiers to the Dnipro’s left bank with the stolen equipment.

Based on the evidence collected, the SSU notified Malkevich, Abdulayev and their six subordinates of suspicion of collaboration (Article 111-1.6 of the CCU).

The suspects are hiding from prosecution in the temporarily occupied area. Comprehensive efforts to bring them to justice for crimes against Ukraine are underway. The offenders are facing up to 12 years in prison.

The investigation was carried out under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutor General’s Office.