Ukraine's fifth president, MP and leader of the European Solidarity Party, Petro Poroshenko, who is on a business trip to Europe and is suspected by Ukrainian law enforcers of treason and aiding terrorism, will return to Ukraine on January 17, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

"Next week - from January 10 to 15 - I will work in Europe to protect Ukraine from Russian aggression and support democracy in our country... On January 17, as promised, I will return to Kiev to appear in court and hold a meeting with the prosecutor general, exercising the right of people's deputy for an urgent reception," Poroshenko said.

The deputy clarified that he will return not "to defend himself from Zelensky, but to protect Ukraine from incompetent leadership and external aggression."

"From attempts ... to build an authoritarian regime and suppress the opposition, as happened in Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan. And as Yanukovych tried in vain to do in Ukraine. I am sure Ukrainians will respond to yet another attempt to create an authoritarian regime in Ukraine. We will not allow to dismantle democracy, Ukraine and Ukrainian statehood", - added Petro Poroshenko.

As reported, on December 20, the SBU notified Poroshenko on suspicion of treason and assisting terrorist organizations in the case of a criminal scheme to supply coal from the temporarily occupied territories. Due to the impossibility of delivering a written notice of suspicion in person, it was sent to the place of residence, registration, as well as at the place of work.

Poroshenko's lawyer Ilya Novikov said that the suspicion of the fifth president is illegal and has no legal basis. In its turn, the statement of Eurosolidarity said that Poroshenko will return to Ukraine, but according to his own schedule, and not "according to the scenario of Zelensky's New Year's videos". The MP himself said that he would return from his business trip abroad in the first half of January 2022.