A member of the Kherson Regional Council remains in custody, with bail set at nearly one million

In the case involving collaboration with the enemy, the court extended the detention of Valery Saltikov, a member of the Kherson Regional Council, while also setting an alternative to pretrial detention—bail of nearly 1 million hryvnias.

This is stated in a ruling by the Central District Court of Mykolaiv.

According to the case file, a member of the 8th Kherson Regional Council, while in the temporarily occupied territory of the city of Kakhovka, re-registered two of his own companies under Russian law—“Kakhovka Specialized Motor Transport Enterprise-2107” and “Graal Pivden.”

On June 1, 2022, at a meeting of several agricultural enterprises in the Kakhovka district, he was elected interim manager of these companies. While performing these duties, he applied to the occupying administration of Kakhovka for permits to cultivate agricultural land and paid fees for this to the budget of the occupying authorities.

The investigation also believes that, starting in late 2023, the deputy helped manage the enterprises “Vostok-Agro” and “Agrinita,” which had been re-registered under Russian law.

According to the investigation, these companies paid taxes to the Russian Federation’s budget and received subsidies from the occupying administration, while the suspect facilitated their operations and received compensation for doing so.

On May 22, 2026, the man was detained by SBU officers and notified of his status as a suspect under Part 5 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 28, and Part 4 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (aiding and abetting collaboration). The investigation has been extended until August 22, 2026.

The court agreed with the prosecution’s arguments that it is currently impossible to complete the pretrial investigation due to the need to conduct additional expert examinations, obtain materials from covert investigative actions, question witnesses, and carry out other procedural measures.

By court order, the period of pretrial detention was extended by 37 days—until August 22, 2026. At the same time, the court set an alternative in the form of bail in the amount of 998,400 hryvnias.

If bail is posted, the suspect must comply with a number of procedural obligations, including not leaving the Odesa region without permission from the investigator or the court and surrendering his passport.

The suspect is 60-year-old Valery Saltykov, a member of the Kherson Regional Council representing the “European Solidarity” party. His name is not mentioned in the text of the court ruling, but the circumstances described in the document correspond to this individual.

Ірина Глухова