New charges filed against former Kharkiv security chief following release

Roman Dudin, former head of the Security Service of Ukraine's Kharkiv region, has been detained again, this time immediately after his release from a pretrial detention facility.

Authorities have issued him a new notice of suspicion, alleging involvement in an attempted seizure of state power during wartime, Caliber.Az reports, citing Ukrainian media.

Investigators suspect Dudin of actions aimed at the violent takeover of state authority, as well as the attempted seizure of a government building amid Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The investigation alleges that while serving as head of the regional security service, Dudin abused his official position to organize unlawful actions intended to remove the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration from office. Prosecutors further allege that he propagated false information and deliberately misled his subordinates, actions that could have precipitated severe destabilization in a frontline region of critical importance to national security.

Dudin had previously been implicated in a corruption scandal. In that context, reports indicate that several high-profile individuals facing legal proceedings sought to obtain their release, including the former security chief himself.

By Vafa Guliyeva