“Main Client Is US Citizen”: Plot to Assassinate Agriculture Minister Roman Leshchenko Prepared

Police detained three suspects, two clients and one perpetrator, who face punishment up to life imprisonment.

Ukraine planned to kill Agriculture Minister Roman Leshchenko. This was reported at a briefing by Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi.

According to Monastyrskyi, there were two clients, a US citizen and a Ukrainian woman, and the perpetrator was a Ukrainian woman. 

Police detained suspects in planning the assassination and murder of Leshchenko. They will be notified of suspicion under four articles.

As Monastyrskyi noted, the charges are especially serious, and therefore they face life imprisonment.

Denys Monastyrskyi
Interior Minister of Ukraine

The charges to be announced are especially serious. They carry punishment of up to life imprisonment. Of course, the court will deliver justice.

According to National Police Chief Ihor Klymenko, the clients are being held in a temporary detention facility.

Klymenko also said that the main client of the murder was a US citizen. He had an agreement with the perpetrator to split 50/50 the property potentially stolen from Leshchenko's house. 

Earlier, the American and a Ukrainian woman had ordered the murder of a debt collector who was “collecting” debts from the American's partner, with whom he had worked in 2018. According to Monastyrskyi, this debt collector took $150,000 from the American, did not return it, and that is why the American decided to kill him.

The murder of this debt collector (a Ukrainian citizen) was staged. Both clients were convinced of the “killing” after receiving photos and videos. The “execution” of this order and the “evidence” were faked by law enforcement officers. 

After that, the client wanted to “collect” alleged debts from Leshchenko. He wanted Leshchenko to be beaten and did not “object” if he were killed.

Monastyrskyi showed materials from covert video surveillance.

According to the Interior Minister, on the evening of November 17 the clients and the perpetrator met at a restaurant, where they discussed their plans and paid a deposit of $20,000. The US citizen was to leave Ukraine to establish an alibi, after which Leshchenko was to be killed.

Law enforcement received information about the planned assassination several months ago. Police had been working under the supervision of the Prosecutor General's Office as early as August.

Leshchenko himself, who was also present at the briefing, said that this incident has no connection to civil service and originated in 2018.

Roman Leshchenko
Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food

This situation is not related to civil service. It is a civil law dispute concerning events that began in 2018. The case involves an attempt to illegally use genetically modified seeds banned in Ukraine.

Leshchenko became Minister of Agrarian Policy in December 2020. Previously he was President Zelensky's plenipotentiary for land issues and head of the State Geocadastre.

32-year-old Roman Leshchenko was brought into government by Volodymyr Zelensky himself, who repeatedly praised his work at the State Geocadastre and “restoring order with state land”.

Before his appointment, a number of media outlets published a statement by US citizen Kurt Jacob Grosans, for whom Leshchenko had worked in 2018 and who was allegedly involved in the theft of grain and money. In an interview with Kyiv Post, Leshchenko denied stealing $250,000 from a business partner.