“The purpose of Kunytskyi’s trip to the USA is to “deepen Ukrainian-American inter-parliamentary cooperation””, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
He went on this business trip already after the SBI in December 2023 began to investigate the circumstances of his other trip abroad, in the summer of 2023 – when Kunitsky received permission from the head of the Verkhovna Rada to go on a short-term business trip to Israel, instead he returned in just three weeks. In a comment to “Schemes”, head of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk said that “the very fact of initiating a criminal case does not create any restrictions on the activities of people’s deputies by legislation.” The last time Kunytskyi took part in voting during plenary sessions on September 17-20 this year, and the committee on law enforcement, of which he is a member, says that the last time the deputy was present was in October, via video conference.
As it became known to “Schemes”, Oleksandr Kunytskyi issued a business trip to the USA in the period from September 21 to 28, 2024. The purpose of the trip is “to deepen Ukrainian-American interparliamentary cooperation.”
The Verkhovna Rada did not provide information about this business trip at the request of “Scheme”, noting that “information about official business trips of people’s deputies of Ukraine during the special period is included in the list of information that constitutes official information.” At the same time, the Apparatus of the Verkhovna Rada emphasized that “reimbursement of travel expenses from the state budget was not carried out.”
The deputy left Ukraine on September 23 – and as of December, he has not returned for three months. According to the electronic system of the Verkhovna Rada, the deputy last participated in the plenary sessions of the parliament from September 17 to 20 (on September 20, he “did not vote” all day). But back in October, in the mode of video conference, he was present at the meeting of his committee – on issues of law enforcement – its chairman Serhiy Ionushas informed “Schems” about this.
“After that, he did not participate in committee meetings, as far as I know, and in VRU meetings, too,” Ionushas noted.
In a comment to journalists, the first deputy chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Oleksandr Kornienko, said that, according to his information, the Parliament’s Apparatus tried to contact the deputy, but “did not receive a clear answer.”
“As the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada, we always emphasize the need to observe discipline and the presence of deputies at meetings. The chairman always addresses the absent deputies in accordance with the regulations. Of course, this is an unpleasant situation. In addition, Kunytskyi is not the only case – there were other deputies with similar situations,” Kornienko noted.
Kunytskyi received permission to travel abroad to the USA already after Ukrainian law enforcement officers began investigating the circumstances of his other trip to Israel, in the summer of 2023, under the conditions of a ban on travel abroad without proper grounds for officials. Then, as “Schemes” found out, Kunytskyi received the approval of the Verkhovna Rada to leave for five days on a short-term business trip, but he stayed abroad for almost three weeks. After that, the then general prosecutor Andriy Kostin initiated criminal proceedings – under the articles “official forgery” and “use of a known forged document”. “Schemes” turned to the State Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating this case, to clarify at what stage it is and what investigative actions have been carried out, but in response, the State Bureau noted that this information is confidential.
At the same time, journalists’ sources in the law enforcement agencies reported that within the scope of this SBI investigation, Kunitsky was not informed of the suspicion, did not choose a preventive measure, and did not establish any other restrictions.
“Schemy” asked the Speaker of the Parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, how Kunitsky was able to get permission to travel abroad, when the investigation into his other business trip is ongoing.
The Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada noted: “The very fact of initiation of criminal proceedings does not create any restrictions on the activity of people’s deputies by legislation, only a court decision that has entered into legal force or the fact that the court imposed some kind of restriction. (…) Here in the Verkhovna Rada, I always demand and I act only within the limits and in the manner required by Article 19 of the Constitution of Ukraine.”
The editors tried to get a comment from Kunytsky himself, but neither he nor his assistant answered calls and messages.
At the same time, new stories appear on the deputy’s Facebook page almost every day, in particular, regarding the incident that happened at the beginning of the war. In March 2022, Kunytskyi was detained for filming a roadblock. The police are currently being prosecuted.
At the beginning of November, the Bihus.Info project reported that Kunytskyi, a People’s Deputy from “Servant of the People”, had probably left the country. On December 17, the UP publication reported that the deputy settled in the USA and still has not returned to his homeland. According to the interlocutor of “Ukrainian Pravda”, Kunytskyi told the “servants” faction that he would not return to Ukraine “until the police representatives who broke his ribs are punished.”
Kunytskyi also noted that he is allegedly ready to draw up a mandate.
Earlier, “Schemy” told about how a network of charging stations, manufactured in Kharkov at the Kunytskyi “orbit” factory, started working in Crimea, and also that the deputy used his mandate in the interests of this private business, the involvement of which he never hid even on behalf of which he spoke publicly for years.