Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered the former president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, political asylum. Putin stated this during a press conference in Moscow on February 7, following a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

"Once upon a time, when Mr. Poroshenko was still President of Ukraine, I told him that if he had any problems in the future, Russia was ready to grant him political asylum. He was ironic enough on this issue back then. But today I want to confirm my proposals, despite our serious differences on this issue – the issue of settlement in the Donbas. And I think he made a lot of mistakes in that regard," Putin said.

Poroshenko is accused of treason and funding terrorism after importing coal from the occupied territories of Eastern Ukraine in 2015. He announced he would appeal against the decision of the Pechersky District Court to restrict his travel outside Kyiv without permission from the prosecution or court. The arrest of Poroshenko is also part of the government’s crackdown on oligarchs. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy began an anti-oligarch campaign last year after pressure from the IMF.

The Kyiv Court of Appeals has postponed the review of former president Poroshenko to February 11, as it never received the case materials, Concorde Capital reported on January 31.

One can question the seriousness of Putin’s offer, although the Russian president did say that he believed the persecution of Poroshenko by the Ukrainian state was unacceptable.

"We are ready to grant asylum in Russia to Mr. Poroshenko," Putin added.

He emphasises that the signing the Minsk agreements was not the doing of Poroshenko and thus he was not guilty of treason.

Nearly half of Ukrainians think the accusation of high treason against former president Petro Poroshenko is an act of political persecution, according to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), Interfax-Ukraine reported on January 24.

The KIIS survey found that 46.1% believe that the accusation is untruthful, whilst 40.1% think he is guilty and 13.8% found it difficult to answer.

Poroshenko went on a "diplomatic tour" just before the announcement of suspicion. The fifth Ukrainian president went to Turkey and then intends to visit Poland.

Many believe the accusations against Poroshenko to be politically motivated, as support for both President Zelenskiy and the ruling Servant of the People Party is slipping compared to recent months, according to a new poll by Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. Some see the case as a way for President Zelenskiy to eliminate a key political rival. Viktor Medvedchuk, the leader of Ukraine’s second most popular political party, Opposition Platform, For Life Party, and personal friend of President Putin, received similar treatment and was charged with high treason on May 11, 2021.The poll was conducted by telephone over January 20-21.

If the election for the president were held last Sunday, President Zelenskiy would garner votes from 23.5% of those who already know whom they would vote for, versus 20.9% for former president Poroshenko.