Ukraine accuses former president Poroshenko of treason

Ukrainian authorities placed former president Petro Poroshenko under formal investigation for high treason on Monday, accusing him of links to financing separatist forces in the eastern Donbass region.

Officials said the accusations against Mr Poroshenko were related to similar charges against pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, who has been under house arrest for about six months.

Mr Medvedchuk's and Mr Poroshenko's political parties denied wrongdoing.

Oleksandr Turchynov, a senior official in Mr Poroshenko's European Solidarity party, said the accusation was fabricated on the instruction of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and would "turn into a farce just like all the previous ones".

Ukraine has been at war with Russian-backed separatists in the Donbass region since 2014.

Mr Medvedchuk, whose political party is the second largest in Parliament, is a Ukrainian citizen but has close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he says is godfather to his daughter.

Ukraine's state investigative bureau said Mr Poroshenko was suspected of "facilitating the activities" of terrorist organisations in a preliminary conspiracy with an unidentified group of people, including some top officials in Russia.

In October, law-enforcement officials accused Mr Medvedchuk of colluding with officials during Mr Poroshenko's administration to buy coal from mines in separatist-held areas in 2014-2015 as a way of financing the separatists.

Mr Poroshenko's party in October called those accusations a smokescreen to divert attention from the government's own wrongdoing.

Officials said last week that the bureau could not summon Mr Poroshenko for questioning in person. Mr Poroshenko's party said the former president had left the country for a planned trip.

Ukraine faced an acute fuel shortage after separatists seized territory that included coalmines.

Prosecutors accused Mr Medvedchuk of colluding with state officials to block coal purchases from the international market.

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Five famous companies founded by teens

There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:

Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.