Former Ukrainian parliamentarian Alexi Kovalev, who went over to the Russians after his city was occupied, has been shot dead, a Russian commission of inquiry reported on Monday.
Kovalev, 33, was wanted by Kiev for high treason after an investigation revealed that he had been appointed a member of the occupation administration in the Kherson region.
“The deputy head of the military and civil administration of the Kherson region in charge of agricultural affairs, Alexei Kovalev, has died after being shot,” the Russian commission said. “The attack was carried out at his home on 28 August," it added. "A young woman living with the deceased was also the victim of the perpetrators.”
In recent months, several Russian-appointed officials in captured Ukrainian territory have been injured or killed in attacks. In late June, Kovalev survived a previous assassination attempt believed to have been organised by the Ukrainian secret services.
Kovalev had been elected a member of parliament in 2019, through a direct mandate, for President Volodimir Zelensky’s party. At the end of April, he was banned from the party and parliament, on suspicion of collaboration with Moscow, and returned to Hola Prystan, his hometown in the Kherson area.
