Moscow Sentences Ex-Ukrainian Adviser Arestovych to 11 Years in Prison

A judge at the Second Western District Military Court in Moscow sentenced former Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych to 11 years in prison in absentia on Friday, Aug. 28, The Moscow Times reported. The court found Arestovych guilty of spreading “false information” about the Russian military, and for publicly calling for terrorism. The closed-door trial centered on public statements Arestovych made regarding the deadly Russian missile strike on a railway station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk in April 2022.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Additionally, prosecutors argued that Arestovych called for terrorism in a March 2022 video, during which he allegedly urged Ukrainians to sabotage railway lines used to resupply Russian troops. According to the Russian news outlet Mediazona, prosecutors had initially requested a 15-year prison sentence. Alongside the 11-year term, the judge officially banned Arestovych from managing websites for a period of four years. In response to the court ruling, Arestovych took to the Telegram messaging app, describing the verdict as a “sophisticated cover-up operation.” Departure from government and political shift Arestovych previously served as an adviser to the head of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office during the first year of Russia’s full-scale invasion. He resigned from the position in January 2023 amid significant public backlash after he falsely claimed that a Ukrainian air defense intercept caused a deadly Russian missile strike on a residential apartment building in the central city of Dnipro. Other Topics of Interest EU Prepares New Sanctions Package Targeting 1,600 Russian Entities EU diplomats are preparing a major new sanctions package targeting 1,600 Russian individuals and entities, set for discussion in Ireland next week. Since his resignation, Arestovych has relocated outside of Ukraine and recast himself as a vocal critic of the Ukrainian government, amassing a large online following through his YouTube channel. Last year, President Zelensky officially sanctioned him. According to The Moscow Times, Russian authorities have pursued legal action against Arestovych for over a year. Moscow added him to its official list of “terrorists and extremists” in May 2023 and placed him on a wanted list in October 2023. In February 2024, Moscow’s Basmanny District Court formally ordered his pre-trial detention in absentia. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.