Ukraine Announces Criminal Investigation Into Surveillance Of Marie Yovanovitch

Former Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch appears before the House Intelligence Committee during an impeachment hearing on November 15, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

The Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced on Thursday that Kiev was launching an investigation into the alleged surveillance of former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.

The ministry asserted that while Ukraine’s position is to “not to interfere in the domestic affairs of the United States,” the documents Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas provided to the House Intelligence Committee “contain a possible violation of the law of Ukraine and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which protects the rights of a diplomat on the territory of the foreign country.”

“Ukraine cannot ignore such illegal activities on the territory of its own state,” the ministry said of the documents, which revealed that an American landscaping contractor named Robert Hyde had repeatedly sent Parnas texts informing him of Yovanovitch’s movements last year.

As such, the National Police of Ukraine has opened a criminal probe into the matter, according to the ministry.

“Our goal is to investigate whether there actually was a violation of Ukrainian and International law, which could be the subject for proper reaction,” it said, saying that Ukraine expects the U.S. to “respond promptly.”

The impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump exposed Rudy Giuliani’s smear campaign against Yovanovitch, whom Giuliani wanted removed in order to carry out his scheme to pressure the president of Ukraine into announcing an investigation into Trump’s top 2020 rival, Joe Biden.

Parnas, Giuliani’s associate who was indicted last year on campaign finance violation charges, assisted the Trump lawyer in his efforts to get Yovanovitch ousted.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Rudy’s next trip to Ukraine could get very interesting.

  2. Avatar for zmulls zmulls says:

    They finally got Ukraine to announce an investigation! So much winning!

  3. There’s your investigation, Trump. Should work out nicely for you.

  4. Wow. Imagine Ukraine doing the right thing before Pompeo and Barr. s/

  5. Well, they traded their corrupt leaders in for some new, more scrupulous ones. Could be the gimmick we’re looking for. ; )

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

141 more replies

Participants

Avatar for tonnyb Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for becca656 Avatar for chelsea530 Avatar for 26degreesrising Avatar for lastroth Avatar for ignoreland Avatar for greylady Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for jtx Avatar for lizzymom Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for greysea Avatar for katscherger Avatar for cub_calloway Avatar for kelaine Avatar for drtv Avatar for justruss Avatar for iamsmall Avatar for dougsanders Avatar for rucleare Avatar for randome Avatar for kovie

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: