The occupation court in the TOT of Kherson region handed down a verdict against the former acting so‑called Minister of Youth Policy and Sports, Elvira Vitrenko. She was found guilty of exceeding her official powers for mercenary motives.
This was reported by media controlled by the occupation authorities.
According to the occupiers’ investigation, in 2023 Vitrenko gave illegal instructions to her subordinates to conclude a state contract for the supply of sportswear for educational institutions of the occupied part of the region. The cost of the goods in that contract was significantly inflated, which ultimately led to the embezzlement of funds on a large scale. The losses to the occupation budget were estimated at over 11 million Russian rubles.
As a result of the case review, the fake court sentenced the ex-official to 5 years of imprisonment to be served in a general-regime correctional colony. Also, the same 11 million rubles are to be recovered from Elvira Vitrenko as compensation for the damages caused.
Recall, Elvira Vitrenko is the former wife of Oleksandr Vitrenko – deputy to Volodymyr Saldo during his first term as mayor of Kherson. Before the full-scale Russian invasion, she worked as director of the Center for Ecological and Naturalist Creativity of Student Youth in Kherson.
According to Ukrainian law enforcement, she began cooperating with the illegal authorities of occupied Kherson region in the summer of 2022. Initially she was appointed head of the Department of Youth Policy, Family and Sports of the occupation administration of Kherson region. Later she became an illegal minister.
She served as minister until October 2023, after which mentions of her in occupation media ceased. Currently the so‑called Minister of Sport is the Russian Sergey Bondar.