Tatarov has flown to Moscow at least 9 times since 2014 - media
After the occupation of Crimea and the start of Russian aggression in Donbas, Oleh Tatarov, deputy head of the OP, flew to Russia at least 9 times.
According to Censor.NET, this is evidenced by the flight data of Oleh Tatarov, which is available to the "Schemes" project.
During the period when Tatarov was practising law, he flew to Russia. Three times in 2017, four times in 2018 and twice in 2019. The last time he flew to Russia was the day after Zelenskyy won the presidential election on 21 April 2019.
The journalists asked the Presidential Office to comment on these flights, but at the time of publication there was no response.
The authors analysed and compared data on Oleh Tatarov's travels by accessing information from the border crossing databases of three countries - Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. After 2014, flights between Ukraine and Russia were suspended, so Tatarov travelled to Moscow from Kyiv via Minsk.
When Tatarov flew to Russia
On 27 August 2017, he flew from Ukraine to Belarus to Minsk airport, from where he travelled to Moscow the same day, landing at Vnukovo airport. The next day, 28 August, Oleh Tatarov flew from Domodedovo Airport to Belarus and returned to Ukraine the following day.
A month later, Tatarov again went on a two-day trip to Russia, arriving in Minsk on 26 September and travelling to Moscow the same day. On 27 September, Tatarov returned to Belarus by plane and flew to Ukraine the same day.
Tatarov made another trip to Russia at the end of 2017 - on 12 December, he flew to Moscow from Minsk, where he had travelled from Ukraine, and returned by the same route.
In 2018, Tatarov visited Russia four times - in March, October, November and December. In all cases, Tatarov flew to Moscow via Belarus and did not stay in Russia for more than a day.
In 2019, Tatarov flew to Russia twice. On 12 March, he flew to Russia from Doha, the capital of Qatar, in the morning. On the same day, he flew to Minsk and from there he travelled to Ukraine.
His last known visit to Russia was the day after Volodymyr Zelenskyy won the 2019 presidential election in the second round. On 22 April, Tatarov travelled to Belarus, from where he flew to Moscow the same day. On the evening of 23 April, Tatarov flew back to Minsk and from there to Ukraine.
"As part of the investigation into Oleh Tatarov's trips to Russia after 2014, 'Schemes' conducted a cross-check of the data: first, we gained access to information about his crossing of the Ukrainian border. Later,we verified this data from the Belarusian side by accessing leaks from the Belarusian border crossing database. Seeing that Tatarov was heading to Russia from Belarus, 'Schemes' verified this data from the Russian side as well - it is reflected in a number of leaks from several Russian databases on border crossings for different periods", the journalists said.
Travelling to Belarus
The authors of the article also stated that Tatarov travelled to Belarus in March 2013, twice - in June and November 2014, and once more in March 2016.
On 22 March 2016, Tatarov crossed the border with Belarus through the "Nova Huta" checkpoint in his own car, returning to Ukraine on 23 March via the same route. It is not known whether Tatarov visited Russia during these trips.
Travelling to the occupied Crimea
According to "Schemes", in 2015 Tatarov travelled to the occupied Crimea. On 6 June, he crossed the "Dzhankoy" checkpoint. He returned on 8 June through the "Armyansk" checkpoint.
"The car Tatarov used to travel to the occupied territory belonged to an employee of the company, which at the time of his work was owned by Halyna Farynnyk, the wife of lawyer Vasyl Farynnyk.
In 2008, Farynnyk, who was then the head of the Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and deputy minister, brought Tatarov to work in his Main Investigation Department and then made him a partner in a law firm, which, with Tatarov's arrival, was named 'Tatarov, Farynnyk, Holovko'", the authors of the article said.
The journalists sent an official letter addressed to Tatarov to the OP, asking him why he had visited the Russian Federation at least 9 times since 2014, with whom he had met there and on what issues, and whether there were any Russian officials among those he met.
As of the time of publication, Oleh Tatarov has not provided any answers.
