Collaboration activities in the form of providing assistance to illegal armed or paramilitary groups created in the temporarily occupied territory and/or armed or paramilitary groups of the aggressor state
Authors: Dopiriak B. P. 
Published: December 2023

The article highlights the issue of providing assistance to illegal armed or paramilitary groups created in the temporarily occupied territory and/or armed or paramilitary groups of the aggressor State as a form of collaboration.

Providing assistance to illegal armed or paramilitary groups created in the temporarily occupied territory and/or armed or paramilitary groups of the aggressor state is an independent form of collaboration and includes the transfer of material resources to them (Article 111-1(4) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and assistance in conducting hostilities against the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations, formed in accordance with the laws of Ukraine, volunteer formations that were formed or self-organized to protect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine (Article 111-1(7) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

Providing assistance as a form of collaboration is understood as the commission of active actions by a citizen of Ukraine who assists armed or paramilitary formations established in the temporarily occupied territory and/or armed or paramilitary formations of the aggressor state by providing information about Ukrainian citizens for the purpose of using it in an unlawful manner, as well as providing advice, instructions, means or tools or removing obstacles, including in terms of conducting hostilities against the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations established by the It is proposed to include in part 4 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine such an act as the transfer of information about Ukrainian citizens for the purpose of its illegal use.

Due to the gaps in the wording of the provision of assistance as a form of collaboration, it is proposed to supplement part 4 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code with an indication of assistance to illegally established authorities in the temporarily occupied territory and authorities of the aggressor state, and part 7 of this article – to the armed formations of the aggressor state.

It is proposed to eliminate the latency in part 4 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine in terms of defining the range of subjects of collaboration by stating that such a subject can only be a citizen of Ukraine. Also, taking into account the coincidence of most of the signs of aiding the aggressor state (Article 111-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), it is proposed to provide in the disposition of part 4 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine the phrase «in the absence of signs of aiding the aggressor state (Article 111-2 of this Code)», which is classic for other articles of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Key words: collaborationism, collaboration activities, assistance, illegal armed groups, illegal paramilitary groups, aggressor state, armed groups of the aggressor state, temporarily occupied territories, authorities of the aggressor state, citizen of Ukraine, criminal liability, criminal offense, treason, aiding and abetting the aggressor state.