Former member of Ukrainian parliament accused of being ‘Russian agent’ appointed senator in Russia

A former member of the Ukrainian parliament who was accused of working for a network of Kremlin agents to facilitate a Russian takeover of the country has been appointed a senator in Russia’s Federation Council, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported on Sunday.

The governor of Russia’s southern Astrakhan region, Igor Babushkin, signed a decree appointing Andriy Derkach to represent the region as a senator in Russia’s upper house of parliament on Thursday, RFE/RL said.

Derkach, who served as a deputy in Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada for over 20 years where he represented now mostly banned pro-Russian parties, fled to Russia following the start of the full-scale war in February 2022.

Later that year, the Security Service of Ukraine announced that it had uncovered a network of Russian agents that included Derkach, whom it accused of working on Kremlin orders since 2016 to create private security structures to be used by Russia for a “quick takeover of Ukraine”.

In 2023, Derkach was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship and charged with treason and illegal enrichment, having allegedly received over €500,000 from Russian intelligence agencies for “subversive activities against Ukraine” between 2019 and 2022.

Designated a “Russian agent” and sanctioned by the US in 2020 for his role in a Kremlin campaign to influence the outcome of that year’s US presidential election, the US Treasury accused Derkach of seeking to “sow discord between political parties and drive internal divisions to influence voters”.

Russian state news agency TASS reported in July that Derkach was living in the city of Astrakhan in southern Russia and had been granted Russian citizenship.

Each of Russia’s regions and other federal subjects is represented in the Federation Council by two senators — one of which is appointed directly by that federal subject’s governor and another which is elected by its regional parliament.