Here are the 'agents of Russia' who are helping Rudy Giuliani promote conspiracy theories: Ukrainian journalist

Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has been traveling through Ukraine in search of dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden -- and he's receiving help from a large cast of shady characters.

A column written by Ukrainian journalist Sergii Leshchenko in the Kyiv Post argues that many of the Ukrainians helping Giuliani in his quest to "investigate" Biden are well known for their pro-Russian sympathies and are also helping him promote the conspiracy theory that it was Ukraine, and not Russia, that really hacked the Democratic National Committee in 2016.

Leshchenko begins by identifying former prosecutor general Yuriy Lutsenko as "the key person who enabled Giuliani’s conspiracy of Ukraine interfering in U.S. domestic politics" and as someone who has "repeatedly cooperated with pro-Russian forces throughout his career" in politics.

"After entering parliament in 2002, he became friendly with Andriy Klyuyev, one of the top members of the Party of Regions, led by pro-Russian politician Viktor Yanukovych, the future president," Leshchenko notes.

The major behind-the-scenes "agent of Russia," according to Leshchencko, is Dmytro Firtash, the Ukrainian oligarch whose attorney gave Guiliani henchman Lev Parnas a $1 million "loan" that he allegedly tried to hide from federal prosecutors. In additions to his connection with Parnas, Firtash also faces extradition to the United States on bribery charges.

"The situation looks absurd, because Firtash, being a suspect in the U.S., evidently contributed to the creation of a document that is now being used by the U.S. president and his associates to defend against impeachment charges," Leshchenko writes. "What does Firtash want in return? Obviously, the oligarch seeks to use Giuliani to avoid extradition to America."

Read the whole column here.