According to Russian propagandists, during the plenary meeting of the Federation Council, congratulations to the Golden Star holders on the occasion of the Day of Heroes of the Fatherland took place.
Then it became known that the list of so-called Heroes of Russia also included former People’s Deputy from Ukraine Derkach, who now represents the Astrakhan region in the upper house of the Russian parliament.
As Kommersant notes, this has not been officially reported anywhere before.
Context
Andriy Derkach is the son of former head of the SBU Leonid Derkach. He began his political career in Ukraine, working in the executive branch, and since 1998 he has been continuously elected to the Verkhovna Rada.
At different periods he headed the state-owned companies Energoatom and Ukratomprom. In 2020, the politician became widely known after the release of recordings that he claimed contained conversations between former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and US Vice President Joe Biden.
After Russia's full-scale invasion, Derkach was convicted in absentia for collaborating with Russian military intelligence GRU. Law enforcement officers then stated that they “found and seized materials indicating long-term subversive activities on the part of the current people’s deputy against Ukraine, his connections with representatives of the aggressor state and collaborators.”
In 2023, President Vladimir Zelensky deprived Derkach of Ukrainian citizenship, after which the Verkhovna Rada terminated his parliamentary powers ahead of schedule.
In September 2024, the governor of the Astrakhan region, Igor Babushkin, delegated him to the Federation Council. And in November it became known that Derkach is a member of the defense committee of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation.
In November 2025, a new lead leading to Derkach appeared in the Energoatom case, which is connected with the high-profile Midas investigation. According to the investigation, the laundering of funds received by the defendants in the case took place through an office in the center of Kyiv, owned by the family of a former people's deputy suspected of high treason.
