Lawyer of Medvedchuk and Sharii headed propaganda department in Kherson and received 10 years in prison

The former lawyer of Medvedchuk and Shariy was sentenced to 10 years in prison for collaborating with the occupiers in Kherson region. He built fake structures and supported the Kremlin's projects for "external governance" of Ukraine.

This was reported by the press service of the Kherson Regional Prosecutor's Office.

The investigation found that in November 2022, the man voluntarily agreed to work for the occupation administration and took the position of "acting director of the organizational, legal, administrative and economic department of the so-called Ministry of Information Policy of the Kherson region." In this position, he managed the activities of the "department," recruited staff, and concluded contracts for the supply of goods and services for the needs of the fake body.

In August 2023, the traitor headed the "liquidation commission" of this pseudo-ministry to transfer its functions to the "information policy department".

The court found the former Ukrainian lawyer guilty of collaborating with the occupation authorities and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. The convict was also ordered to confiscate his property and was banned from holding public office for 15 years.

According to the Chesno movement, this is Valentyn Rybin. In 2025, the SBU found that Rybin was a member of a group that implemented a Russian project to introduce "external governance" of Ukraine. Together with other defendants, he created a website stylized as Ukrainian state resources, organized a fake "online referendum" and developed a copy of the Diia portal to falsify its results.

In addition, the group members tried to set up their own representative offices in the EU countries, which were supposed to be an alternative to Ukrainian diplomatic missions.

Back in 2023, the SBU served Valentyn Rybin with a notice of suspicion of collaboration and public justification of Russian aggression. The investigation revealed that he had previously been a personal lawyer for Viktor Medvedchuk and Anatoliy Shariy, both of whom are suspected of treason.

In 2022, Rybin took advantage of his status as a father of three to move to Spain. Already on March 19, he published a post on Facebook in which he expressed contempt for Ukrainian defenders who are resisting the Russian invasion and said he would return only when "law will prevail in Ukraine."

Also, two journalists from Crimea face up to 12 years in prison for justifying the war and glorifying the Russian occupiers. They published a pro-Russian magazine that was distributed among the Russian military and online.

Анна Бальчінос