How the People's Deputies Fled the People and the War to the Côte d'Azur and Are Pretending to Work in the Verkhovna Rada

How the people's deputies fled the people and the war to the Côte d'Azur and are pretending to work in the Verkhovna Rada

Some members of parliament who left Ukraine before the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion and have since skipped all parliamentary sessions continue to submit their legislative initiatives to the Verkhovna Rada. Remotely.

In the final days before the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian security service began sending mysterious instructions to informants and collaborators in Kyiv. “Get out and leave the capital,” they told Kremlin collaborators, but “leave the keys to your homes.” That is why the main pro-Russian politicians left Ukraine before the large-scale invasion by Russian invaders.

The Chesno movement and the news outlet Hlavkom analyzed all bills submitted by deputies to the Verkhovna Rada from the start of the full-scale war through the anniversary of the restoration of Ukraine’s independence and singled out those registered by runaway deputies. There turned out to be more than ten such bills.

First of all, recall that the Chesno movement, up to 100 days of parliamentary work under conditions of full-scale war, based on voting results in the session hall, calculated which deputies were absent during martial law. There were almost two dozen such deputies, mostly representatives of the former OPZZh faction, unaffiliated deputies, and former Servant of the People deputies. Some of these deputies are suspected of state treason.

There are also deputies in parliament who are mostly absent and do not take part in votes – sometimes their cards are placed in the slots, but they do not actually vote. It can be assumed that their voting cards are placed by their colleagues from the faction or group to simulate the deputies’ presence at the session.

Moreover, it turns out that some of these runaway deputies continue to register legislative initiatives in parliament, apparently doing so remotely or through their assistants. According to journalists’ investigations, some of these deputies have been living on Monaco’s Côte d'Azur the whole time, while others are hiding in Belarus or Russia.

Unfortunately, banning pro-Russian parties, such as OPZZh, does not automatically mean that the party’s representatives will be deprived of their parliamentary mandates until there is an appropriate court decision or they voluntarily resign. Thus, even runaway deputies who still hold mandates retain the right of legislative initiative and use it. In addition, thanks to electronic digital signatures, such deputies can sign working documents remotely (for example, statements about forming deputy groups, co-authorship of bills, appeals and statements, etc.) while they are in Monaco, Vienna, or even Belarus. The absurdity of the situation is obvious, so the question remains open for the SBU and Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies.

It should be noted that this more closely resembles a mere simulation of legislative activity, because these bills currently have no real chance of being considered in parliament. As the Chesno movement’s analysis showed, in the four months since Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine began, the Verkhovna Rada adopted almost 200 laws and resolutions, most of which were submitted by committee chairs from Servant of the People.

Some of the runaway deputies are sole authors of bills; others were co-authors.

For example, Renat Kuzmin, a deputy from the former OPZZh faction and former deputy prosecutor under Viktor Pshonka, who before the full-scale invasion criticized arming the territorial defense, accused NATO of starting the war and declared the creation of a new state after the aggressor’s quick victory, submitted seven bills in July–August of 2022, which mainly concern amendments to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine.

That is why the Chesno movement emphasizes that for more than two years journalists have not had full access to work in the corridors and the press gallery of the Verkhovna Rada. Much of the public information about the work of the people's deputies has been removed from public access, which in turn makes public oversight and monitoring of deputies’ work, identification of corruption risks and conflicts of interest impossible.

Renat Kuzmin together with OPZZh colleagues led by Viktor Medvedchuk at a meeting with the leadership of the State Duma in Moscow

No. 7608 of 28 July – Draft Law on Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. On 29 July the bill was sent to the Committee on Law Enforcement and was withdrawn the same day.

No. 7615 of 29 July – Draft Law on Some Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. The bill is under consideration by the Verkhovna Rada’s Law Enforcement Committee.

No. 7626 of 2 August – Draft Law on Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine Regarding the Improvement of the Use of Security Measures. The bill is under consideration by the Verkhovna Rada’s Law Enforcement Committee.

No. 7634 of 4 August – Draft Law on Some Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine Regarding Certain Issues of Criminal Proceedings. The bill is under consideration by the Verkhovna Rada’s Law Enforcement Committee.

No. 7635 of 5 August – Draft Law on Some Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine Regarding the Resolution of Certain Issues of Pretrial Investigation. The bill is under consideration by the Verkhovna Rada’s Law Enforcement Committee.

No. 7643 of 8 August – Draft Law on Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine Regarding the Resolution of Certain Issues That Arise During Court Proceedings. The bill is under consideration by the Verkhovna Rada’s Law Enforcement Committee.

No. 7657 of 11 August – Draft Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine Regarding Strengthening Responsibility of Law Enforcement Officers.

Another representative of the banned OPZZh, Kharkiv majoritarian and millionaire Ihor Abramovych, after the faction was dissolved, together with deputy Maksym Yefimov became co-chair of the deputy group “Revival of Ukraine,” which included 17 deputies — former OPZZh members, Servant of the People and Dovira members.

In six months of parliamentary work under martial law Ihor Abramovych submitted three bills, all collective (together with deputies from his own group “Revival of Ukraine”), one primary and two alternatives.

No. 7474 of 17 June – Draft Law on Amendments to Section XX of the Tax Code of Ukraine Regarding Exemption from Personal Income Tax for Written-Off Debt for Housing and communal services (amounts of free housing and communal services received) for consumers during the period of martial law. Co-authors: Ihor Abramovych, Tetiana Plachkova, Dmytro Isaienko, Oleksandr Lukashev, Maksym Yefimov, Anatolii Burmich, Valerii Hnatenko, Hennadii Vatsak, Nataliia Prykhodko, Oleksandr Yurchenko, Vadym Stolar and Oleksandr Feldman.

No. 7473-1 of 2 July – Draft Law on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts Regarding Simplifying Access to Free Legal Aid. Co-authors: Ihor Abramovych, Tetiana Plachkova and Dmytro Isaienko. On 8 August the Legal Policy Committee rejected the initiative.

No. 6067-2 of 18 July – Draft Law on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts Regarding Reforming the Employment Service, Unemployment Social Insurance, Promoting Productive Employment of the Population, Including Youth, and Introducing New Active Labor Market Programs. Co-authors: Ihor Abramovych and Tetiana Plachkova. On 22 July the Social Policy Committee rejected the initiative.

Another runaway deputy from OPZZh, Oleh Voloshyn, who is in the Register of State Traitors and has been absent from parliamentary sessions since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, signed bill No. 7129 on changes to the Rules of Procedure regarding holding remote sessions of the Verkhovna Rada.

This bill was registered almost a month after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, namely on 8 March 2022, by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk in co-authorship with 241 other people’s deputies. Among them, besides others, was his OPZZh colleague Oleksandr Puzanov, who also appeared in the list of runaway truants. After the faction was dissolved, both truant deputies Voloshyn and Puzanov joined the PZZhM group.

Runaway OPZZh deputy Oleh Voloshyn

Most co-authorship signatures on this initiative were placed by Servant of the People representatives (196 deputies), as well as deputies from the For the Future and Dovira groups, unaffiliated deputies and even representatives of the PZZhM group. In addition, a majority district deputy from Servant of the People in Odesa region Ihor Vasylkovskyi, who was also absent from parliamentary sessions since February 2022 and was recently found to be on the list of persons whose Ukrainian citizenship President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revoked by decree, signed this bill.

The OPZZh deputy couple Nataliia Korolevska and Yurii Solod, who are also absent from parliamentary sessions during martial law, submitted an alternative bill registered on 25 February:

No. 7044-1 – Draft Law on Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On State Assistance to Families with Children” Regarding Increasing the Amount of Assistance at the Birth (Adoption) of a Child. Co-authors: Nataliia Korolevska, Yurii Solod, Volodymyr Moroz, Valerii Hnatenko, Volodymyr Kaltsev. The bill is under consideration by the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy.

Another runaway OPZZh deputy Vadym Stolar, according to the media, lives in an estate in Nice, which did not prevent him from becoming a co-author of Ihor Abramovych’s bill No. 7474 mentioned above (On Amendments to Section XX of the Tax Code of Ukraine Regarding Exemption from Personal Income Tax for Written-Off Debt for Housing and Communal Services (amounts of free housing and communal services received) for consumers during the period of martial law).

As Hlavkom reported, Vadym Stolar is currently litigating with his former OPZZh party over his mandate.

Stolar himself told Suspilne that he left Ukraine before the start of the full-scale invasion and now supposedly engages in aid for the Armed Forces, victims of shelling and families of combatants.

Asked about fulfilling his parliamentary duties, Stolar told journalists: “Today my only task as a deputy is to unite around the state and the president, so that together with all Ukrainians we help the Armed Forces and people in hot spots for the sake of victory over the enemy.”

After the publication of the UP investigation “Battalion Monaco,” Servant of the People deputy Maryana Bezuhla submitted to parliament an appeal for the early termination of the powers of deputies Vadym Stolar, Ihor Abramovych and Hryhorii Surkis, who left Ukraine before Russia’s full-scale invasion and did not participate in parliamentary sessions.

Earlier the Chesno movement wrote about how quickly the political rhetoric of representatives of the former OPZZh faction changed: those who previously advocated cooperation with Russia and the “immediate implementation of the Minsk agreements” have now turned out to be “ardent supporters of Ukraine’s accession to the EU.”

Representatives of both deputy groups formed from the remnants of the OPZZh faction (PZZhM and “Revival of Ukraine”) have now radically changed the direction of their positions. They now talk about “living and working in historic times,” being “a parliament not only of a warring country, but witnesses and builders of how the Ukrainian state is steadily moving toward full EU membership.”

From the Rada podium even those OPZZh deputies say this who in 2020 met in Moscow, as a delegation from that party led by Viktor Medvedchuk, with deputies and the leadership of the State Duma of Russia – with Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, his deputy Aleksei Gordeev, with heads of the United Russia and CPRF factions Sergey Neverov and Gennady Zyuganov. And before that OPZZh leader Viktor Medvedchuk met in the Kremlin with his godfather Vladimir Putin and discussed creating a parliamentary dimension of the Normandy format.

Now, as journalists’ investigations show, these pro-Russian deputies for some reason left not to Rostov, Moscow or Samara, but to Europe’s Côte d'Azur.

Oleksandr Salizhenko, parliamentary analyst of the Chesno movement, published in Hlavkom