Pro-Russian politician Oleh Tsarev, a former member of the Verkhovna Rada, was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in Crimea, temporarily occupied by Russia, according to Russian sources.
In Ukraine, Tsarev was sentenced in absentia to a long prison term for high treason.
The latest message in Tsarev's telegram channel reads as follows: "Information about the assassination attempt on Oleg Tsarev is confirmed by his family. Around midnight, on the territory of the sanatorium where he lives, he was shot twice. There is no information about the perpetrator, the security forces are working."
Tsarev's condition after the attack is described as serious: "When the ambulance arrived, Oleg was unconscious and suffering from heavy blood loss. There is no information about his health condition now".
"Kommersant and other Russian media outlets clarify that Tsarev lived in Yalta, where the attack took place. The publication also mentions a post by Ukrainian journalist Oleksandr Chelenko with a version that Tsarev could have been stabbed.
Volodymyr Rogov, a representative of the occupation authorities in Zaporizhzhia region, disagrees with this version: "There was no stabbing. Oleg was shot at". In his telegram channel, Rogov assessed the politician's condition as "very serious" – "he is in intensive care."
Tsarev was a member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in 2002-2014, and was pro-Russian both before the Revolution of Dignity and Yanukovych's flight and after. He owns and manages the Kirov sanatorium in Crimea, which was occupied in 2014. He has been wanted in Ukraine since 2014.
In May 2022, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv sentenced Tsarev to 12 years in prison in absentia for public calls for intentional actions to change the borders of the territory and state border of Ukraine.
According to the BBC's Ukrainian Service, the politician's brother, Mikhail Tsarev, is in custody in Ukraine awaiting a possible exchange with Russia.
The Russian FSB opened a case under the article on attempted murder of a state or public figure.
Background. As a reminder, a car with a Russian soldier was recently blown up in the temporarily occupied Berdiansk – the occupier died on the spot from his injuries.