The man who jailed NABU detectives over Russian ties has Russian ties himself

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko—who spearheaded last summer’s crackdown on anti-corruption agencies in the name of fighting “Russian influence”—has direct family ties to Russia himself, as do three of his five deputies, an investigation by the Mezha Anti-Corruption Center found.

In July 2025, Kravchenko’s office conducted approximately 80 searches targeting 19 NABU employees, arrested two detectives on espionage charges, and pushed through legislation subordinating anti-corruption agencies to his personal authority—all justified by alleged Russian infiltration of NABU.

Street protests and EU threats to freeze billions in aid forced a reversal within days. Now the Mezha investigation shows the “Russian trace” ran through his own office all along.

His father’s Russian passport

Kravchenko grew up in Siverskodonetsk, Luhansk Oblast—the same city where his father, Andrii Kravchenko, lived before Russia occupied it in mid-2022. In June 2023—while his son was already serving as head of the Kyiv Oblast Military Administration—the elder Kravchenko obtained a Russian passport.

Between June and September 2023, he crossed between Russia and occupied Luhansk at least four times in his Dacia Logan, passing through checkpoints in Voronezh and Rostov oblasts. He initially drove on Ukrainian plates, then switched to Russian registration. Kravchenko became the prosecutor general two years later, in June 2025.

Three deputies, three Russian trails

The investigation traced Russian connections across most of Kravchenko’s leadership team.

Viktor Logachov, whom Kravchenko appointed deputy prosecutor general in December 2025, has family running businesses in occupied Luhansk. His father, Serhii, co-owns Vodomir, a drinking water company registered in November 2022 that has paid over 800,000 rubles ($10,350) in taxes to Russia.

Other Logachov relatives operate at least three more companies in the so-called LNR—generating over 11 million rubles ($142,370) in family income and more than one million rubles ($12,940) in taxes to the aggressor state since 2022.

Maksym Krym, appointed deputy in June 2025, is married to a woman born in Crimea, whose parents, Larysa and Viacheslav Yushkovy, still live in Sevastopol. They obtained Russian passports immediately after the peninsula’s occupation.

Krym’s wife herself received a Russian taxpayer identification number—a document that does not appear automatically and cannot be issued without personal participation, the investigators noted.

Mariia Vdovychenko, Kravchenko’s first deputy, has a brother who defected to Russia’s military prosecutor’s office and a father running businesses in occupied Crimea—ties Euromaidan Press reported in November. Despite these findings, Kravchenko promoted her.

Having relatives in Russia is not a crime—Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi was born there. But Syrskyi never hid it, and never used it as a pretext to jail others. Kravchenko did both.

The detective he jailed

One of the NABU detectives Kravchenko personally signed suspicion notices against was Ruslan Mahamedrasulov, the man who organized the wiretapping that uncovered Operation Midas, a $100 million kickback scheme at state nuclear operator Energoatom.

The Mezha findings arrive one day after a separate investigation revealed that the sister of fugitive businessman Tymur Mindich—the alleged Energoatom scheme mastermind—has been living in a Moscow apartment belonging to a Russian general’s wife since 2014, contradicting Mindich’s denials of family ties to Russia.

Who has access to Ukraine’s secrets?

The Mezha investigators put it bluntly: the “leadership” section of the Prosecutor General’s website “is starting to resemble the Myrotvorets database”—a reference to the Ukrainian registry of individuals deemed threats to national security.

These officials have access to all criminal proceedings, including those in the defense sector. They hold security clearances. They can bring charges against anyone, from a member of parliament to the prime minister.

The EU has made reform of the Prosecutor General’s Office one of ten priorities Ukraine must meet to continue receiving funding. Kravchenko has survived a government reshuffle that replaced ministers and security chiefs. He remains in office.