The one who throws the pavement into the pond is the Ukrainian ambassador to Portugal. In an interview with CNN Portugal, at the beginning of April, Inna Ohnivets affirms that in certain associations for the reception of Ukrainian refugees there are Russians, Russians favorable to the regime of Vladimir Putin: “These associations collect very personal information. They also ask new arrivals where their family lives in Ukraine… Which is obviously very interesting for the Russian intelligence services.“.
Inna Ohnivets has been employed in Ucrânia in Portugal since 2016, num país que tem agora uma comunidade com mais 50 mil ucranianos. O número mais do que duplica a presença ucraniana que existia em Portugal antes da vaga criada pela atual guerra. N… https://t.co/NClpjKb9yk
— CNN Portugal (@cnnportugal) April 9, 2022
Ukrainian associations are also alerting the Portuguese authorities: yes, organizations that have always been part of Russian propaganda are now involved in support networks for Ukrainians.
Everything starts from a city, Setúbal, south of Lisbon. Refugees are welcomed there by Edintsvo (“Unity“, in Russian), an Association of immigrants from Eastern countries financed by the city council of Setuprom since 2005.
It was founded by Igor Khashin, a Russian very connected to the embassy, a character who in 2014 had spoken publicly in favor of the annexation of Crimea according to the Portuguese press. The same year, Kashin is also said to have organized a meeting of “Russian compatriots” Europeans in Lisbon; in 2008, he reportedly went with his wife to Moscow, to the World Congress of Russian Compatriots Living Abroad, at which Vladimir Putin spoke. His wife Yulia, who also has dual nationality, Russian and Portuguese, is a civil servant at the town hall.
Gold among the 160 Ukrainians received by the couple according to the weekly “Espresso”, some say that their identity documents have been photocopied; that they were questioned about their relatives possibly engaged in territorial defense forces. Friday, May 13, Igor and Yulia defended themselves in an interview with the newspaper Publico.
Setúbal: Pro-Kremlin? “Eu penny but pró-humano” diz Igor Khashin https://t.co/W430Ee8xSU
— Public Portugal (@P__Portugal) May 13, 2022
“No information on has been transmitted to the Russian authorities” said Igor, “we are not spies“. “It does not mean anything”, adds his wife. The couple explain that they digitized the identity documents so that the refugees could apply for temporary protection with the SEF, the Foreigners and Borders Service.
Their explanations are hard to convince. Faced with the controversy, Yulia was dismissed from the municipal teams which provide reception for Ukrainians. A judicial investigation was opened for abusive collection of personal information, searches took place at the town hall and in the premises of the association.
“I regret this unacceptable situation, whether out of irresponsibility or excessive voluntarism, the fact of having reduced precautions on private matters should not have happened in the reception of refugees”said Tuesday, May 10 the deputy minister for parliamentary affairs, the socialist Ana Catarina Mendes.
The Foreigners and Borders Service for its part declared that it had no protocol signed with the Edinstvo association, and that it had only called on it for occasional translation services. He also ordered “the suspension” of any possible future collaboration.
The case of Setuball is very particular: the town hall is held by an alliance between the Greens and the Communist Party, which refuses to speak of a Russian invasion in Ukraine and which accuses Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, of relying on neo-Nazi battalions.
But for representatives of the Ukrainian community in Portugal, this is not an isolated case. Other cities are affected. Pavlo Sadoka, president of the Association of Ukrainians in Portugal, told the Lusa agency: “As soon as refugees started arriving in Portugal in March, we were alerted that some had been received by pro-Russian elements posing as members of international or even Ukrainian organizations.”. After discussing with similar associations in other countries, he says: “It’s the same all over Europe.”
In a statement, the Russian Embassy denounces the bias of the Portuguese media: “It is unfortunate to see in the national media a new attempt, in the spirit of Russophobia, to politicize the situation around a structure of a humanitarian nature“. But the President of the Republic himself, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has called for an investigation throughout the country. Since the beginning of the war, Portugal has taken in more than 33,000 Ukrainian refugees, an immigrant community that has become the second largest in the country.