Ukrainian court freezes property of ex-president Poroshenko

By YURAS KARMANAU
The Associated Press

KYIV, UKRAINE (AP) — Ukraine’s Court has frozen the assets of former President Petro Poroshenko as part of an official investigation into alleged high treason by the former head of state, the Prosecutor General’s Office said Thursday. Prosecutors suspect Poroshenko of involvement in financing Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014-2015 through the purchase of coal in the Donbas. Poroshenko denies the charges. “The court ruled to seize the property of the suspect, which belongs to him by right of ownership,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement. Poroshenko, one of the richest citizens of Ukraine, owner of the Roshen confectionery empire, has been outside Ukraine since late December and has not yet commented on the decision.