Ex-Crimea minister arrested in Kyiv on treason charges

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced on June 30 the detention in Kyiv of a former Russian-installed energy minister from occupied Crimea. The suspect, identified through open-source information and photos as 65-year-old Serhii Kolobov, allegedly received Russian citizenship following the 2014 occupation of the peninsula.

Kolobov is accused of leading the occupation administration's Fuel and Energy Ministry and playing a key role in transferring Crimea's energy infrastructure, including power plants, renewable energy facilities, gas infrastructure, and oil terminals, under Russian control. The SBU stated that he spent two years re-registering these assets under Russian law before continuing to work for Moscow in extractive industry companies.

Investigators seized Russian passports, bank cards, and documents purportedly linking Kolobov to cooperation with Russia. He has been charged with high treason, a crime that carries a potential sentence of up to 15 years in jail if he is found guilty. This arrest marks a rare instance of a Kremlin-installed official on occupied Ukrainian territory facing actual imprisonment in Kyiv.