Ukraine’s interior ministry announced it is opening a criminal investigation into the possible illegal surveillance of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who was a Democrat witness during the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.
The Ministry of Interior Affairs said in a statement that it is conducting the investigation in light of “materials published by investigators of the House of Representatives” in recent days about the “possible illegal surveillance” of Yovanovitch.
The ministry added in a longer statement that while Ukraine has an official position to not interfere in U.S. domestic affairs, it stressed that the published records contain a “possible violation of the legislation of Ukraine and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which protects the rights of a diplomat in the territory of another country.”
“Our goal is to investigate whether there were any violations of Ukrainian and international laws,” the statement said, adding that it will determine if the messages were “just bravado and fake talk in an informal conversation between two U.S. citizens.”
“After analyzing these materials, the National Police of Ukraine upon their publication started criminal proceedings under part 2 of Art. 163 (Violation of the secrecy of correspondence, telephone conversations, telegraph or other correspondence) and part 1 of Art. 182 (Unlawful collection, storage, use of confidential information about a person, violation of privacy) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine,” Ukraine’s statement continued.
The announcement came days after communications regarding Rudy Giuliani’s associate, Lev Parnas, were released. According to ABC News, which broke the story, Republican congressional candidate Robert Hyde seemed to suggest to Parnas in messages that he had people following Yovanovitch.
In an interview with CBS News on Wednesday, Giuliani denied having knowledge of any alleged efforts to track Yovanovitch. “I have no idea about allegations of him tracking her,” the former New York mayor told the broadcaster.
Parnas has claimed that he and Giuliani were attempting to get Yovanovitch removed from her position before she was recalled last year by the White House.
“She’s talked to three people. Her phone is off. Computer is off,” Hyde allegedly wrote in one message to Parnas, reported Politico. He also said that “she’s next to the embassy” and “not in the embassy” at one point.
Hyde has denied the allegations that he monitored Yovanovitch in an interview on Wednesday night.
When he was asked by Sinclair’s Eric Bolling in an interview about whether he “had eyes” on Yovanovitch, Hyde strongly denied the accusation.
“Absolutely not, are you kidding me?! I’m a little landscaper from … Connecticut,” he said.
“That was just colorful, I thought we were playing. I didn’t know he was so serious,” Hyde told Sinclair’s Eric Bolling in an interview, referring to the aforementioned messages that were released.
In November, Democrats in the House had Yovanovitch testify during the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine and on whether the White House withheld millions of dollars in foreign aid to Kyiv for politically advantageous investigations, which Trump and Ukrainian officials have both denied.
From The Epoch Times
