The Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced on Thursday that Kiev was launching an investigation into the alleged surveillance of former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.
The ministry asserted that while Ukraine’s position is to “not to interfere in the domestic affairs of the United States,” the documents Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas provided to the House Intelligence Committee “contain a possible violation of the law of Ukraine and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which protects the rights of a diplomat on the territory of the foreign country.”
“Ukraine cannot ignore such illegal activities on the territory of its own state,” the ministry said of the documents, which revealed that an American landscaping contractor named Robert Hyde had repeatedly sent Parnas texts informing him of Yovanovitch’s movements last year.
As such, the National Police of Ukraine has opened a criminal probe into the matter, according to the ministry.
“Our goal is to investigate whether there actually was a violation of Ukrainian and International law, which could be the subject for proper reaction,” it said, saying that Ukraine expects the U.S. to “respond promptly.”
The impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump exposed Rudy Giuliani’s smear campaign against Yovanovitch, whom Giuliani wanted removed in order to carry out his scheme to pressure the president of Ukraine into announcing an investigation into Trump’s top 2020 rival, Joe Biden.
Parnas, Giuliani’s associate who was indicted last year on campaign finance violation charges, assisted the Trump lawyer in his efforts to get Yovanovitch ousted.
