Law enforcers informed former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Kostiantyn Hryschenko and former Minister of Justice Oleksandr Lavrynovych of suspicion of treason.

"According to the investigation, in April 2010, suspects, by prior agreement by a group of persons with the former president and prime minister, acting to the detriment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability, defense capability, state and economic security of Ukraine, in violation of the Constitution of Ukraine, the law on international treaties of Ukraine, without actually considering the draft Agreement between Ukraine and Russia on the stay of the Black Sea Fleet of Russia on the territory of our state by the interested bodies and conducting a mandatory legal examination, agreed on it without comment," the PGO press service has said.

It is noted that as a result of the actions of former ministers and other defendants in the case, in April 2010, an Agreement was signed and ratified, which extended the stay of the Black Sea Fleet of Russia on the territory of Ukraine for 25 years.

"This created favorable conditions for the subsequent re-equipment and modernization of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation, as well as its increase in the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol instead of withdrawing from Ukraine," the prosecutor's office said.

Former ministers are charged with Part 1 of Art. 111 (high treason) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Pretrial investigation in criminal proceedings is carried out by investigators of the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI).

According to the SBI press service, the defendants in the case are hiding abroad, so the suspicions were announced in absentia.

The statement does not include the names of the former ministers. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine from March 2010 to December 2012 was headed by Kostiantyn Hryschenko, the Ministry of Justice from March 2010 to July 2013 by Oleksandr Lavrynovych.