A Moscow judge has upheld the pre-trial detention of a 60-year-old businessman accused of state treason for paying taxes in Ukraine, the exiled outlet Mediazona reported Wednesday.
Oleg Varyukhin, a former pilot who ran a perfume business in Ukraine, was reportedly arrested in early May after flying into Moscow from Moldova to visit relatives.
Russian investigators allege that Varyukhin committed treason by paying mandatory taxes as an individual entrepreneur on his earnings into the Ukrainian state budget.
“Every worker in any country is obligated to pay taxes. They have no control over that,” defense attorney Yury Shel told Mediazona.
“[Varyukhin] had no say over how the government distributed those tax revenues, just like anyone in any other country,” Shel said.
