Zamana suspected of treason / Photo from UNIAN

Chief Military Prosecutor Anatoliy Matios has announced former chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Volodymyr Zamana had been detained on charges of high treason.

"Zamana is suspected of committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code (high treason) in the wording of 2001. In 2015, the wording of that article was changed to the one with more severe sanctions," Matios said at a press conference in Kyiv on February 25, according to an UNIAN correspondent.

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According to him, the military prosecutor's office and the investigative unit of the SBU Security Service of Ukraine in the city of Kyiv had already notified Zamana of the suspicion.

First reports about Zamana's detention by law enforcement officers appeared on February 25. Press Secretary of Ukraine's Prosecutor General Larysa Sargan confirmed the fact without elaborating on the causes behind the detention. "I can only confirm the fact," she told UNIAN earlier on February 25.

Matios claims that Zamana, while in office, disbanded anti-aircraft missile divisions and military air force units, depriving Ukraine of the air defense system.

“During his tenure as Chief of the General Staff, anti-aircraft missile divisions armed with the S-300V air defense missile systems were disbanded, namely those were the 874th anti-aircraft missile division, the 137th anti-aircraft missile brigade, the 5001st anti-aircraft missile division, the 281st anti-aircraft missile division of the 208th anti-aircraft missile brigade, 19 military air force units," he said.

The 114th tactical aviation brigade was reformatted from the brigade into a squadron, he added. 

This, according to Matios, deprived the entire country of its air defense, including the Air Force, which is the main striking force in any military conflicts.

UNIAN memo. Volodymyr Zamana served as Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from February 18, 2012 to February 19, 2014.