A convicted associate of Saldo has been charged with a new offense by the SBU

The Security Service of Ukraine announced that a new charge has been filed against Igor Telegin, a resident of Kherson and a former associate of Vladimir Saldo, the occupation leader of the Kherson region, who had previously been sentenced to ten years in prison.

This information is posted on the website of the Office of the Prosecutor General.

According to the SBU, Igor Telegin is a deputy of the illegally established Kherson Regional Duma and the head of the regional branch of the Russian organization “Combat Brotherhood.”

He is charged with:

• collaboration;
• repeated public calls to change Ukraine’s territorial boundaries;
• producing and distributing materials that justify Russia’s armed aggression and the occupation of Ukrainian territories.

According to the investigation, Telegin spread false claims in public speeches and on social media about the start of the war in 2014 and the history of the Kherson region, and he also sought to legitimize the illegal “referendum” on the annexation of the occupied territories to the Russian Federation.

The “Combat Brotherhood” cell he led, as law enforcement officials determined, participated in the information war on Russia’s side—systematically spreading Russian narratives and justifying armed aggression against Ukraine.

Under the guise of “military-patriotic education,” the organization, according to the investigation, was engaged in mobilizing young people and raising a generation that would support the Russian Federation’s armed forces.

This is not the first criminal case against Igor Telegin. In April 2026, the Kherson City Court sentenced him to 10 years in prison with confiscation of all his property for working for the occupying authorities.

Prior to the full-scale invasion, Telegin headed the Ukrainian Union of Afghanistan Veterans. At the same time, veterans referred to him as an impostor because he used medals that did not exist.

Over the years, he worked at the city executive committee, was involved in passenger transportation, and later moved into film production.

In 2020, Telegin led the regional branch ofthe “Vladimir Saldo Bloc” party and participated in the election campaign for the Kherson City Council. He also worked at the campaign headquarters.

During the occupation of Kherson, according to law enforcement officials, Telegin was involved in the militarization of children.

Ірина Глухова