KYIV: Ukraine has arrested a Russian-Ukrainian dual national extradited from Moldova charged with promoting the Kremlin’s invasion, Kyiv’s security service said Tuesday.
The SBU said Dmytro Chystilin — whom it called an “ideologue” of Moscow’s invasion — was charged with “high treason” and “justification” of Russia’s aggression, facing a possible life sentence.
“The SBU detained one of the Kremlin’s ideologues of the ‘special military operation’ against Ukraine,” the security service said in a statement.
It accused Chystilin of “providing assistance” to Russian special services, organizing pro-Moscow conferences in Europe and “interference in election processes in Eastern and Central Europe in favor of Moscow.”
The security service said he was arrested after an event in Moldova when he tried to return to Moscow.
An SBU spokesman, Artem Dekhtyarenko, told AFP that Moldova then extradited Chystilin to Ukraine “over the weekend.”
Dekhtyarenko said he has both Ukrainian and Russian passports.
Ukrainian prosecutors said Chystilin had acted as a Kremlin “mouthpiece” and was detained for “developing and implementing information warfare strategy against Ukraine.”
“While in Moldova, he strengthened the Kremlin’s information influence on the domestic and foreign policy of a sovereign state,” Ukraine’s prosecutor-general said in a statement.
The SBU said Chystilin had also worked as an assistant to Sergei Glazyev, a former Kremlin adviser known for his hawkish positions.
Russian state media quoted a friend of Chystilin, Igor Kaldare, as saying that the dual national was organizing a “regional security” conference in Bucharest and was arrested by Moldovan security services.

LONDON: UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said he would “never” ban all arms sales to Israel.

The Labour leader made the claim during questions in the House of Commons on Monday, adding he believed Israel has a right to defend itself.

“If the sale of weapons for defensive use by Israel were banned, that is a position I could not countenance a year after Oct 7. It’s not a position I could countenance in the face of attacks by Iran,” Sir Keir told Parliament.

“The idea that we could say we support Israel’s right to defend herself, and at the same time deprive her of the means to do so, is so wholly inconsistent that it will never be my position.”

The UK government suspended 30 arms export licenses to Israel last month over fears they could be used to break international law. However, 32 other licenses remain.

The prime minister received criticism for his stance, with Zarah Sultana MP, currently suspended from the Labour Party, telling Sir Keir to do what is “morally and legally right” and ban “all arms sales” to Israel, including components for F-35 fighter jets.

On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron called for a halt on arms exports to Israel after it invaded Lebanon.

“I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza,” he said.

Sir Keir echoed the need for a political solution to the crisis on the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel.

“Make no mistake, the region can’t take another year of this. All sides must step back from the brink and find the courage of restraint,” Sir Keir said.

US President Joe Biden also used the anniversary to tell Israeli President Isaac Herzog that Washington would “never give up until we bring all of the remaining hostages home safely.”