The current government takes no action to ensure effective investigation into the attack on the Inter Channel, as it is well aware who the attackers were, and these people are close to the Interior Ministry leadership. MP Serhiy Lovochkin (OPPOSITION BLOC) said this in an interview with Segodnya.ua, the first part of which was published on the edition website. According to the policy maker, Inter lawyers have to document the crime and collect evidence themselves. “We are waiting for a report of the Prosecutor General on the implementation of the President’s instruction to investigate the arson attack,” he added.

“Why don’t the authorities do anything, why don’t the police do anything - officials, who are conducting the investigation? Because they are well aware, who attacked Inter, they know that these people are close to the Interior Ministry leadership. Now, after the terror attack, another crime takes place - the criminals are being covered up. We are waiting for results of the investigation from the SBU and the PGO,” Serhiy Lovochkin said.

According to him, the attack on the TV station was a planned and politically motivated terror attack. The member of parliament noted that those who planned the attack, knew that people might suffer, but it did not stop them. “The attack was carried out with confidence in total impunity - the attackers did not even get hold of the video from surveillance cameras from nearby shops and a pharmacy. Besides, the masterminds behind the attack did not expect that the attackers would fail to destroy all the video from CCTV cameras inside the TV station building. The analysis of all these video records allowed us to completely reconstruct the attack and identify the attackers,” Serhiy Lovochkin said.

He stressed that it was already quite clear who planned the attack and what their purpose was. “I am convinced that the main thing which the Ukrainian society must demand from our law enforcement, and which the government must do, if we live in a democratic country, is to punish the guilty, however close to the government they are,” the politician noted.

He also informed that a law firm that worked with the Inter TV channel, was documenting the crime and collecting testimonies from all individuals, who had been present in the building at the time of the crime. “Besides, we expect a report from the Prosecutor General on the implementation of the President’s instruction regarding the investigation into the Inter arson and the blocking of its work. Today, it is a test of democracy: can the government protect the media in Ukraine, protect journalists, whose life and health were exposed to danger, can they tell the public that the criminals will suffer punishment,” Serhiy Lovochkin noted.

Recall, on September 4, 2016 a group of radicals attacked an office of the Inter TV channel and committed an arson. As a result, the TV studio was destroyed. Several employees were poisoned by carbon monoxide, one employee suffered a spinal injury. After this the radicals blocked the channel’s office for a few days. The Opposition Bloc conducted independent investigation into the attack and stated that the masterminds behind the terror attack and the subsequent blocking of the Inter TV Channel are the leadership and members of the Popular Front party Arseniy Yatseniuk, Arsen Avakov and Oleksandr Turchynov. The attackers are close assistants to the Minister of Internal Affairs: Ilya Kiva, fighters of the Azov Civil Corps, Saint Mary Corps, a group of radicals from Dmytro Korchinskiy’s cohort and Dnieper crime boss Vadym Mizera.