Former Ukrainian president returns to face treason case

KIEV • Ukraine's former president, Mr Petro Poroshenko, landed in Kiev on Monday to face treason charges in a case he says was trumped up by allies of his successor, Mr Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

In a brief stand-off at border control after arriving on a flight from Warsaw, Mr Poroshenko accused border guards of taking away his passport. He later greeted thousands of cheering and flag-waving supporters outside the airport.

Mr Poroshenko's return sets up a showdown with President Zelenskiy's government in what critics say is an ill-judged distraction as Ukraine braces itself for a possible Russian military offensive and seeks the support of Western allies.

Western diplomats called for political unity in Ukraine before the arrival of Mr Poroshenko, who was president from 2014 until 2019. Mr Poroshenko, 56, is being investigated for alleged treason linked to the financing of Russian-backed separatist fighters through illegal coal sales in 2014 and 2015.

He could face 15 years in prison if convicted. His party has accused Mr Zelenskiy of a reckless attempt to silence political opposition.

Mr Zelenskiy's administration says the prosecutors and judiciary are independent and accuses Mr Poroshenko of thinking he is above the law. Mr Zelenskiy trounced Mr Poroshenko in an election in 2019.

"We are not here to protect Poroshenko, but to unite and protect Ukraine," Mr Poroshenko told the crowd, before heading to the Pechersk court in central Kiev for a hearing into his case, as supporters chanted outside the building.

Ms Tetiana Sapyan, a spokesman for the State Bureau of Investigations (DBR), told a separate briefing that the DBR was apolitical. The court eventually deferred a decision on whether to order Mr Poroshenko's arrest after a session lasting nearly 12 hours.

The hearing is set to resume today.

"Today we did not win the war, we did not win the battle, but we kept our positions, preventing them from advancing," Mr Poroshenko told the crowd.

On Friday, Mr Zelenskiy's chief of staff batted away suggestions that the President was behaving like Mr Viktor Yanukovich, a former leader who was backed by Russia and whose political rival Yulia Tymoshenko was jailed in a case that Western countries widely condemned as politicised.

Ukraine has tried to rally Western support in its stand-off with Moscow after sounding the alarm about a build-up of tens of thousands of Russian troops near its borders.

A confectionary tycoon, Mr Poroshenko was elected as head of a pro-Western government after street protests ousted Mr Yanukovich in 2014.

REUTERS