The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) announced on Tuesday that Leonid Pasichnyk, the leader of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic in the occupied territory of Ukraine’s Luhansk province, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

In a press release, the SSU announced the conviction of Leonid Pasichnyk, stating he was found guilty under Articles 110.2 and 111-1.5 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code for encroachment on Ukraine’s territorial integrity and inviolability, committed by a group through prior conspiracy and collaboration.

According to the investigation conducted by the SSU Office in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Pasichnyk signed an ‘agreement on friendship, cooperation, and mutual assistance’ between the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic and Russia on February 24, 2022. According to the investigation, this agreement provided a pretext for President Putin to initiate the invasion of Ukraine.

Pasichnyk, a former employee of the SSU, is the self-proclaimed leader of the Luhansk People’s Republic in the occupied Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he had expressed strong pro-Russian views. In his role, he had been instrumental in Russia’s offensive against the Donbas region, which includes the occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk, both declared as People’s Republics and officially recognized by Russia.

Illegitimate referendums on the accession of the temporarily occupied regions to Russia were held in both regions. According to the SSU, Pasichnyk was responsible for organizing the ‘sham’ referendum in the occupied territory of Luhansk and, based on its outcome, for the subsequent self-proclaimed accession to Russia. 

According to the press release, the trial was conducted in a special court proceeding, and Pasichnyk was convicted in absentia. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison and deprived of the right to hold positions related to organizational, administrative, and economic functions in governmental undertakings and entities for 13 years. Pasichnyk’s sentence will commence once he is detained.