Kyiv Says Suspects of Kazakh Activist Shooting Fled Ukraine

Ukraine said Friday it had identified two suspects in the attempted murder of a Kazakh opposition figure in Kyiv and that the perpetrators had escaped to neighboring Moldova.

Police in Ukraine's capital said this week that a prominent Kazakh anti-government activist, Aydos Sadykov, had been shot and seriously wounded outside his home.

The outspoken critic of Kazakhstan's leadership has a large following on social media and was granted asylum in Ukraine in 2014.

“Two men carefully planned the murder of a journalist,” the office of the prosecutor general in Ukraine said in a statement, adding the suspects were both Kazakh citizens.

It said they had entered the country on June 2 from Poland and carried out surveillance on Sadykov before attempting to assassinate him on Tuesday.

“The suspects left the territory of Ukraine on the day of the attempted murder, crossing the border of Ukraine and Moldova,” the statement said, adding that both suspects are on an international wanted list. 

The activist's wife Natalia Sadykova said Friday that Sadykov remained in serious condition in hospital, and blamed Kazakhstan's president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for orchestrating the attack.

“I was not mistaken, neither when I accused Tokayev of the assassination attempt or when I said that the shooter was a professional,” Sadykova said.

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Tokayev has instructed Kazakh law enforcement agencies to cooperate with Ukraine to locate the suspects, his spokesperson said, according to Russian news agencies. 

“Astana is ready to cooperate with Ukraine, including through Interpol,” the spokesperson was cited as saying. 

Human Rights Watch called for an investigation into the shooting.

“The news of the attack on Sadykov during broad daylight in the Kyiv city center is deeply disturbing,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.