Convicted former deputy head of Crimea's Interior Ministry released for exchange to Russia

Mykola Fedorian, convicted of state treason, has been released from his sentence following a decision to transfer him as part of a prisoner-of-war exchange. The Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv has issued the ruling at the request of the Prosecutor’s Office.

Source: Sudovyi Reporter (Court Reporter), citing the court ruling dated 11 August

Details: Fedorian was sentenced to 12 years in prison with confiscation of all property for state treason by a verdict of the Holosiivskyi District Court of Kyiv in October 2024.

Fedorian applied for an exchange while simultaneously appealing his verdict. In June 2025, the Supreme Court ordered a new hearing of his appeal, but he later withdrew it.

On 5 August 2025, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War decided to transfer convicted Fedorian to Russia for exchange as a prisoner of war.

Fedorian worked in the internal affairs bodies for about 30 years, retiring in late 2011 from the position of deputy head of the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. From 2012, he worked in the transport department of the state company Chornomornaftogaz.

After the occupation, he remained in Crimea, obtained a Russian passport, and continued working at the Russian State Joint-Stock Enterprise of the Republic of Crimea Chernomorneftegaz, which the Russians built upon the foundations of the seized Ukrainian company. Once a year, he travelled to mainland Ukraine to visit his elderly parents.

In November 2020, he was detained at the Kalanchak checkpoint, where data on cooperation with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) was found on his mobile phone.

Fedorian was accused of providing Chernomorneftegaz vehicles to Russian FSB officers and other illegal Russian law enforcement bodies at least 12 times for carrying out so-called investigative actions and transporting illegally detained Ukrainian citizens to places of imprisonment under the pretext of combating the Hizb ut-Tahrir organisation.

In court, Fedorian did not plead guilty. He claimed that in regards to Chernomorneftegaz, his duties involved document management and equipment procurement, while vehicle allocation was handled by another department. The drivers were allegedly not under his supervision, and he had no contact with them or involvement in searches of Crimean Tatars’ homes.

However, his mobile phone contained correspondence with Russian FSB officers, particularly discussions about providing vehicles for FSB operational activities.

In addition, Fedorian had a habit of recording telephone conversations. Audio files on his phone indicated that in Crimea, he maintained stable contacts with representatives of the Russian border service, the Ministry of Defence, and the customs service, including resolving entry and exit issues for the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine. In these conversations, Fedorian used clearly derogatory terms – referring to representatives of Ukrainian state bodies controlling the checkpoints between the Crimean peninsula and Ukraine-controlled territory as "khokhly" [a pejorative term for Ukrainians – ed.].

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!