Lobbying by "Servant of the People" against the Ministry of Internal Affairs: how Viktor Biletsky won a position at the Zhytomyr Service Center

Lobbying by "Servant of the People" against the Ministry of Internal Affairs: how Viktor Biletsky won a position at the Zhytomyr Service Center

Viktor Mykolayovych Biletsky — deputy head of the RSC in Zhytomyr. The most striking fact in his biography is not a corruption scandal but a legal-political struggle for the position, where the opponent was the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the lobbyists were the "Servant of the People" faction.

This is a rather unique case: other figures usually hide their tracks, while Biletsky left behind court rulings, deputies’ inquiries, and publications in local media. There is enough material, and the deeper you dig, the more interesting details emerge.

The court reinstated him, the Ministry did not comply — leading to a parliamentary inquiry

15 September 2021: The Zhytomyr District Administrative Court in case No. 240/16125/21 obliged the reinstatement of Biletsky to the position of head of the Zhytomyr RSC effective from 23 February. The court explicitly ordered "to allow the decision, in part regarding reinstatement to the position, to be executed immediately."

8 December 2021: The Seventh Administrative Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of the State Service Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs — the decision became legally binding.

17 December 2021: a parliamentary inquiry by six "Servant of the People" MPs was announced in the Verkhovna Rada to Minister Denys Monastyrsky demanding the reinstatement of Biletsky and the suspension of Andriy Voronin (then head of the Zhytomyr RSC), who had been "notified of suspicion in a criminal offense." The deputies were:

Arseniy Pushkarenko — head of the regional faction in Zhytomyr

Serhiy Kuzminykh — Chudniv constituency No. 67

Bohdan Kytsak — Berdychiv constituency No. 63

Dmytro Kostyuk — Novohrad-Volynskyi constituency No. 65

Tetiana Hryshchenko — Malyn constituency No. 66

Tetiana Tsyba — Kyiv, by party list

6 January 2022 the Ministry of Internal Affairs responded that "the information requires additional processing, the review period is extended" — effectively an attempt to formally "delay" the matter.

What this means and why it matters

Biletsky’s story demonstrates a direct confrontation between the court and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. At the same time, the "Servant of the People" faction, from which, incidentally, the minister himself came, is pressuring "its" ministry. This is a complex configuration in which Biletsky received political cover at the highest level. Six MPs from the SN faction from different districts of Zhytomyr region — a rare example of a consolidated regional position by the faction. It is worth checking which of them are still in politics, how they voted in the Verkhovna Rada, and whether they have other "protégés" among heads of RSCs across Ukraine. This elevates the case from a local conflict to a case of systemic support for Biletsky by the ruling party.

Question: why was he dismissed? Biletsky was dismissed in connection with a reorganization of the structure and the liquidation of the legal entity. The official reason was an order from the State Service Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to terminate civil service due to liquidation or reorganization of the state body.

However, the court in case No. 240/16125/21 found the dismissal unlawful for the following reasons:

Actual succession of rights: despite the change of name and the formal liquidation of the previous legal entity, the newly created body fully assumed the functions and tasks of the old service center.

Procedure violations: the law obliged the employer to offer the employee another equivalent or lower position in the reorganized body if such a vacancy existed. This was not done.

Artificial liquidation: the court concluded that the "liquidation" was formal and was used to replace the head, since the scope of authority and the essence of the institution’s work in Zhytomyr did not change.

An especially ironic fact: in 2021 (the same year the court reinstated him) Biletsky defended a master’s thesis on "Strategic Directions of Anti-Corruption Policy" at Polissya National University. In other words, the person for whom a political struggle was waged for reinstatement officially presents himself as an expert on anti-corruption policy.

Head of the accreditation commission — power over driving schools

Biletsky heads the accreditation commission. This gives him direct influence over the accreditation of driving schools, the issuance and revocation of licenses. His supervisor Kozakov personally revoked licenses at driving schools to cover himself and Haida. Now Biletsky is on Kozakov’s team and heads that same commission. This is not accidental but a consolidation of control over the segment of "selling licenses through driving schools" into one set of hands.