Former Yanukovych ally, former head of SAA Kravets expelled from Lithuania.

An associate of fugitive Ukrainian ex-president Viktor Yanukovych, Andriy Kravets, who has taken refuge with his family in Lithuania, is being expelled from the country.

According to Censor.NET, this was reported by the Delfi portal.

According to the Lithuanian Department of State Security (DSS), in 2010, when Yanukovych won the election in Ukraine, Kravets became the head of the SAA, he was called "Yanukovych's housekeeper". He took care of various domestic issues.

"Kravets and his wife Maryna Pelykh were involved in the misappropriation of at least €35 billion from the Ukrainian budget by the Yanukovych regime, dealing with the president's finances and the luxury of his mansion," the DSS document says.

"After Yanukovych's escape, Kravets and his wife also left Ukraine," the DSS said.

In 2014, Kravets and his family received a residence permit in Lithuania, and he spent almost 10 years in the country, setting up a business. The services paid attention to him in early 2023, a year after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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"According to the DSS, Kravets and Pelikh maintained ties with Yanukovych's entourage and worked for his pro-Russian regime, so they had to be loyal to Russia and its aggressive foreign policy, which poses a threat to Lithuania's national security. Russian services can use Kravets and Pelikh for their own purposes as loyal and reliable persons," the DSS document of 6 February 2023 reads.

Based on this document, the Migration Department decided on 4 March 2023 not to extend the residence permits of Kravets and his family members. Kravets appealed against this decision in courts of all instances, and his case was finally resolved by the Chief Administrative Court of Lithuania last week.

Kravets claimed that the DSS's assessment was based only on assumptions and that he actually supported Ukraine.

However, the courts rejected his arguments as unfounded. According to the court, the fact that Kravets and Pelykh are engaged in business and have not been convicted in Ukraine does not mean that their ties to Yanukovych and his entourage have been severed and that they do not pose a threat to the national security of the country.