Former Kherson Regional Council Deputy Receives SBU Suspicion Notice

Ukrainian authorities have charged former Kherson Regional Council deputy Igor Brzezycki with a second count of collaboration with Russian occupation forces, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced this week.

The new charges allege that Brzezycki, a prominent local businessman, served as deputy head of the Russian-installed administration in Kakhovka in 2023, where he oversaw several critical sectors including education, culture, and information policy.

According to materials cited by the Center for Public Investigations, Brzezycki played a significant role in transitioning local educational institutions to Russian standards while working closely with occupation authorities. The SBU investigation revealed that he strategically involved the Russian Orthodox Church in spreading pro-Russian narratives among Kakhovka residents.

“He systematically organized propaganda activities in the interests of the aggressor state, using religious and humanitarian events as a tool to influence civilians,” stated the official suspicion notice from the Prosecutor General’s Office.

This latest charge falls under Article 111-1, part five, of Ukraine’s Criminal Code, which addresses collaboration with occupying forces. If convicted, Brzezycki faces between five and ten years imprisonment and potential property confiscation.

The case highlights Ukraine’s ongoing efforts to prosecute individuals who cooperated with Russian authorities during occupation. This marks the second collaboration charge against Brzezycki, who was previously accused earlier this year of heading the occupation’s education department in Kakhovka.

Investigators also linked him to the 2022 seizure and looting of Kakhovka City Council’s social services center following the Russian takeover of the city, which fell to Russian forces early in the full-scale invasion.

Brzezycki’s political background includes serving as a Kherson Regional Council deputy representing the pro-Russian Party of Regions, according to the Chesno political watchdog movement. Before the war, he chaired the board of the Kakhovka Experimental Mechanical Plant, which he later headed as a private enterprise.

His ties to Russian-aligned religious institutions were also substantial. For years, he led the diocesan department for family issues within the Novokakhovka diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP). Local reports described him as an outspoken supporter of the “Russian world” ideology who publicly acknowledged the Moscow Patriarch as his spiritual leader.

The investigation further revealed that collaboration with occupation forces extended to Brzezycki’s immediate family. His wife Svitlana Brzezycka, who headed the Lepta charity foundation, and his son Dmytro Brzezycki both allegedly worked with the occupation administration.

In a related case, authorities previously issued suspicion notices to Vardan Alaverdyan, who allegedly assisted in the so-called “nationalization” of Ukrainian property in Kakhovka. The SBU investigation uncovered that Alaverdyan played a central role in an extortion scheme targeting local entrepreneurs, threatening business confiscation unless they contributed to the occupiers’ pseudo-charity fund Lepta.

These funds, according to investigators, ultimately benefited both the local occupation administrator identified as Gauleiter Filipchuk and the Brzezycki family.

The charges come as Ukrainian authorities continue efforts to document and prosecute alleged collaboration in formerly occupied territories. Since the liberation of parts of Kherson region in November 2022, hundreds of collaboration cases have been opened, though many suspects remain in Russian-controlled territory or have fled to Russia, complicating prosecution efforts.