Russia puts former Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko on its wanted list

Russia has put former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on its wanted list, Russian state media reported, citing the Interior Ministry's database.

Russian state news agency Tass said Tymoshenko was listed as wanted on unspecified criminal charges.

She reportedly joins Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, on the same list, which also includes scores of officials and lawmakers from Ukraine and NATO countries.

Tymoshenko and her Batkivshchyna (the Fatherland) party did not immediately comment Saturday.

Mediazona, an independent Russian news outlet, reported that both Zelenskyy and Poroshenko had been listed since at least late February.
 

Among others on the list is Kaja Kallas, the prime minister of NATO and EU member Estonia, who has fiercely advocated for increased military aid to Kyiv and stronger sanctions against Moscow.

 

Russian officials in February said that Kallas is wanted because of Tallinn's efforts to remove Soviet-era monuments to Red Army soldiers in the Baltic nation, in a belated purge of what many consider symbols of past oppression.

Russia has laws criminalising the rehabilitation of Nazism that include punishing the desecration of war memorials.

Also on Russia's list are cabinet ministers from Estonia and Lithuania, as well as the International Criminal Court prosecutor who last year prepared a warrant for President Vladimir Putin on war crimes charges. Moscow has also charged the head of Ukraine's military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, with what it deems terrorist activities, including Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian infrastructure.