SBU charged Artemy Lebedev with suspicion after reporting from Zaporozhye NPP

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) suspects Russian designer and blogger Artemy Lebedev of producing and distributing materials that justify Russia’s “armed aggression” (part 3 of article 436-2) because of a video filmed at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in the summer of 2022 The corresponding notification of suspicion dated March 17 was published in Russian and Ukrainian on the website of the Office of the Prosecutor General of the country.

“The criminal activity of the Russian blogger Artemy Lebedev, who illegally entered the territory of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in June 2022,” the SBU commented on this in its Telegram channel, “is documented.

In addition, the SBU suspected the head of the ZNPP, Yuriy Chernichuk, of “complicity with the aggressor state” (Part 1, Article 111-2). According to the Ukrainian intelligence service, before the transfer of the station under the control of Russia, he worked as a deputy chief engineer. Another notification of suspicion was sent to an unnamed deputy head of the departmental paramilitary guards at ZNPP. He is suspected under both articles, under which suspicions were brought against Chernichuk and Lebedev.

Russia has controlled the Zaporozhye NPP since the end of February 2022, since then the plant and the city of Energodar, in which it is located, have been subjected to regular shelling from Ukraine. In early October, after the Zaporozhye region became part of Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed to take the plant facilities into federal ownership and create the Zaporozhye NPP FSUE to ensure the safety of nuclear facilities.