Sarah K. Burris
August 1, 2024
Rudy Giuliani and Ukrainian politician Adriy Derkach
(Photo: Adriy Derkach's press office)
Former Ukrainian parliamentarian Andriy Derkach is running for office again, this time from Russia.
Financial Times reporter Christopher Miller reported on Thursday that Derkach is best known for his alleged efforts in helping Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani pressure other Ukraine officials to attack Joe Biden as he launched his 2020 presidential campaign.
The U.S. ultimately sanctioned Derkach for being an "active Russian agent" attempting to interfere with the election, which he has denied.
Former Ukrainian parliamentarian Andriy Derkach is running for office again, this time from Russia.
Financial Times reporter Christopher Miller reported on Thursday that Derkach is best known for his alleged efforts in helping Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani pressure other Ukraine officials to attack Joe Biden as he launched his 2020 presidential campaign.
The U.S. ultimately sanctioned Derkach for being an "active Russian agent" attempting to interfere with the election, which he has denied.
Miller cited a Russian publication, the Pravada newspaper, which was the official paper for the Communist Party in the Soviet Union from 1918 to 1991, Britannica describes.
In 2022, the U.S. Justice Department filed a seven-count indictment that charged Derkach "with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Acts (IEEPA), bank fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and four counts of money laundering in connection with the purchase and maintenance of two condominiums in Beverly Hills, California."
Derkach fled Ukraine in 2023 after the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office recommended him for trial for treason and self-enrichment. The investigation determined that Dekach attempted to discredit Ukraine on the global stage, harm Ukraine's relationship with the U.S., and stop any candidacy of Ukraine for NATO and the European Union, the Pravada report continued.
“The conduct of this Kremlin asset, who was sanctioned for trying to poison our democracy, has shown he is ready, willing and capable of exploiting our banking system in order to advance his illicit goals,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York said at the time in a statement. “The U.S. will not be a safe haven where criminals, oligarchs or sanctioned entities can hide their ill-gotten gains or influence our elections. This office, together with our law enforcement partners, will use every tool available to prosecute those who evade sanctions and abuse the U.S. financial system, and we will identify, freeze and seize criminal proceeds whenever and wherever possible.”
In 2019, he met with Trump's then-attorney, Rudy Giuliani 2019, as they worked to build a corruption case against Biden's son, Hunter, the Washington Post reported last year.
Trump was impeached in late 2019 for "using the power of his high office" to "[solicit] the Government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations that would benefit his reelection, harm the election prospects of a political opponent, and influence the 2020 United States Presidential election to his advantage," the Articles of Impeachment read.
"President Trump also sought to pressure the Government of Ukraine to take these steps by conditioning official United States Government acts of significant value to Ukraine on its public announcement of the investigations. President Trump engaged in this scheme or course of conduct for corrupt purposes in pursuit of personal political benefit," it was also alleged.
Those same articles passed a full House vote. A Republican-led Senate refused to hold a trial.
In his 2024 campaign for president, Trump continues to claim that any accusations related to Russia are false.
"They and their mouthpieces in the right-wing media (and sometimes the far-left media) have derided references to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s assault on the 2016 campaign as nothing but the fever dreams of deranged Trump critics, derisively dismissing the matter as 'Russia, Russia, Russia,'" wrote Mother Jones' David Corn in February.
"For the umpteenth time, the Russians did mount a clandestine scheme to boost Trump in 2016. And the Trump campaign—in a meeting between top Trump aides (Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner) and a Moscow emissary—signaled to the Kremlin that it welcomed this secret intervention," Corn also wrote.
He cited his book written with Michael Isikoff, Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump as a "good primer."
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