Russia has granted citizenship to former Berkut officers, who are accused of shootings during the Euromaidan

Russia has granted citizenship to Dmytro Sadovnyk, a former commander of the special squadron of the Berkut Special Forces, and 9 former officers of the special squadron, who are accused of killing 48 Euromaidan activists on Institutska Street in Kyiv in February of 2014.

According to Ukrainian News, this was stated by the prosecutor Roman Psyuk on January 17 in the Svyatoshynsk District Court in Kyiv.

In particular, Psyuk asked the jury to take into account and investigate the Russian response to the request of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

“We’ve got answers of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation signed by the Deputies of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation according to which 10 people, whose names are listed in the indictment, are the members of the special squadron of Berkut and received citizenship of the Russian Federation. According to our sources, they are hiding in the territory of Russia”, – said the prosecutor.

According to Psyuk, Russia has granted a citizenship to Sadovnyk in December 2014 and 9 other former officers of Berkut received citizenship in April 2014, September 2014, April 2015 and January 2015.

Two former Berkut officers were granted asylum in Russia as refugees.

The court decided to add these files to the case.

As a reminder, on May 17, 2016, the Svyatoshynsk court began the trial of the former Berkut officers: Pavlo Abroskin, Serhiy Zinchenko, Oleksandr Marinchenko, Serhiy Tamtura and Oleg Yanishevsky.

They are accused of shooting the Euromaidan activists on Institutska Street in Kyiv in February of 2014. Former officers of the Berkut Special Forces deny their guilt.

The court has extended the arrest of Abroskin, Zinchenko, Marinchenko, Tamtura and Yanishevsky until March 17.

Only 25 law enforcement officers, who participated in shootings on Institutska Street, were identified and 20 of them are wanted.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, 2.5 thousand people were injured during the Euromaidan and 104 of them died.