The wife and relatives of the former deputy head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Semochka, have Russian citizenship. This was previously reported by journalists, and now the SBU has confirmed it.

Journalists received a response from the SBU to the deputy's appeal. It was said about valid Russian passports.

Having Russian citizenship

• Tatyana Lysenko (Semochka's wife),
• Anastasia Koton (her daughter from her first marriage),
• Vladimir Koton (husband of Anastasia),
• Stanislav Lysenko (Tatiana's son from a previous marriage).

Also, in response, they indicated the number of each passport and individual tax numbers.

SBU response / Photo released by Bihus Info

What preceded this

Back in 2018, journalists released an investigation about Sergei Semochka. Then he was the first deputy chairman of the Foreign Intelligence Service.

Investigators talked about the pressure of the SBU unit on the pharmaceutical market and interference in dialysis tenders, elite property of value incomparable with official income. In addition, they talked about Russian passports received by Semochka's wife and a number of relatives. Recall that until 2014, the official lived in the Crimea with his family.

Semochko himself stated that his wife only has a Ukrainian passport, and also filed a lawsuit against journalists demanding to refute the information. Semochko won the first instance, and the appeal too. However, the cassation abolished all previous decisions and sent the case for a new trial from scratch.

Note! Semochka is still trying to resume his service in the Foreign Intelligence Service through the courts. After the investigation, he was fired, but when he was on sick leave. This was probably done on purpose.

In January 2023, his case was accepted for consideration by the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court. However, it is not known when the meeting will take place.