“Former People’s Deputy and ex-advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mykhailo Apostol, publicly reacted to the high-profile “Glavkom” material “The Scam of the Century. Why did the legendary artist Ivan Marchuk go to court in his 90s.” The name of the Apostle appears in the context of attempts to transfer the rights to the paintings of the legendary artist Ivan Marchuk to outsiders close to the Apostle. In his statement, the Apostle accused”, — write on: ua.news
Former People’s Deputy and ex-advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mykhailo Apostol, publicly reacted to the high-profile “Glavkom” material “The Scam of the Century. Why did the legendary artist Ivan Marchuk go to court in his 90s.”
The name of the Apostle appears in the context of attempts to transfer the rights to the paintings of the legendary artist Ivan Marchuk to outsiders close to the Apostle.
In his statement, Apostol accused Tamara Stripko, the artist’s assistant for many years, of rights fraud, calling her actions manipulative. This is reported by “ Chief Commissar » with reference to the Apostle’s statement.
Mykhailo Apostol accused Marchuk’s assistant that she was the one behind the “classic scheme of distracting attention.” The former People’s Deputy claims that Tamara Stripko “actually imposed” her presence on the artist and “isolated the Maestro from the closest people”, including his daughters and friends. At the same time, the politician does not explain which side he was on in this story, and why the artist had to entrust the rights to his artistic heritage to the people who were brought to him by the Apostle.
“For a long time, I was silent, as the daughters and relatives and friends of the Maestro are silent, who sincerely love him and wish him peace at a respectable age. We didn’t want to create conflict or tension around a man who had earned the right to quiet, dignified years full of respect and creative triumph. But, as the situation shows, silence was perceived as weakness. And when someone has something to hide, he begins to act aggressively, to throw mud at the prejudices of those who know the truth,” he wrote.
Exnardep claims that he repeatedly heard from Marchuk himself words about his “reluctance to communicate with the assistant” and his tiredness from her. Apostol declares that over time, this person, manipulating, began to speak on behalf of the artist, forming public texts in the style of “we welcome”, “we want”, creating in himself “the illusion of co-ownership of the legacy of Genius”.
The apostle emphasized that “manipulation, psychological pressure, distortion of facts and outright lies” were a reality in recent years, and daughters and friends who came to their father/friend “every time received coldness in response after her whispers.” The former People’s Deputy claims that the assistant isolated Maestro from the closest people.
In addition, Apostol recalled the story of the return of 101 paintings by Marchuk, which was presented to the public “as if the ex-National Deputy was not an assistant, but a participant in something dubious.” He assured that the collection was “saved and promptly returned” thanks to Marchuk’s friend Volodymyr Bulba and the involvement of himself and the Minister of Internal Affairs. The former people’s deputy also complained that, under the influence of the assistant, Maestro allegedly began to declare that the film about him, created by Volodymyr Bulba, “does not exist”, and called Bulba himself a “thief”, although he “gave so much strength” and was close to the artist.
The apostle claims that the entire collection was “taken abroad under the guise of war” with the help of an assistant. He suggests that Marchuk’s manor in Kanev, which appears in the film about the artist, also came under her control. Mykhailo Apostol concluded that all these actions look like “a classic scheme of distracting attention: loud accusations, creation of the image of “enemies of the Maestro” from friends and relatives of the genius who know about her, manipulation of his respectable age – and at the same time slow but consistent appropriation of the heritage of the Ukrainian Genius.” “I express this position not out of resentment, but out of duty to history, to Marchuk’s family, to Ukraine and to the Maestro himself. Because a legacy of this level is not a private booty, but a national value,” he concluded his statement, which he supported with a selection of photos showing him in the company of Maestro.
We will remind, people’s artist and laureate of the award “National Legend of Ukraine” Ivan Marchuk announced an attempt to seize the rights to use his paintings. The artist’s statement, made on November 4, 2025 on his Facebook page, was preceded by a visit to a court session in Ternopil. The court proceedings, which were reported in detail by “Glavkom” in the material “Scam of the century. Why did the legendary artist Ivan Marchuk go to court at the age of 90” concerns the sensational dispute: who has the right to dispose of the images of his works.
Marchuk himself states: he was “shoved a contract”, which he signed without reading. We are talking about the license agreement dated May 21, 2020, according to which the artist allegedly granted four persons – lawyer Serhii Pavlenko, businessman Mykhailo Sinytsia, Ihor Apostol (son of a former deputy of parliament) and long-time assistant Tamara Stripko – an exclusive license for 100 years to use the copyright for all his paintings. For this, the artist allegedly received UAH 10,000.
The scandalous story is connected with former People’s Deputy and former adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs Mykhailo Apostol, who, according to Stripko’s assistant, initiated the meeting to sign the document. Stripko claims that she and Marchuk were verbally assured that the contract would come into force only after notarization, which, as it turned out, completely contradicts one of the clauses of the document itself. Mytets said that after reading the contract, he immediately called Apostol and demanded to cancel all agreements, to which the ex-Deputy allegedly agreed.
However, as it turned out four years later, Apostol and other signatories consider the contract valid, although Marchuk claims that he did not receive any remuneration. The artist’s assistant, Tamara Strypko, is convinced that this is the “scam of the century.” Currently, Marchuk is forced to challenge this contract in court.
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