MP from the Servant of the People faction, Oleksandr Kunitsky, left Ukraine on September 23 on the grounds of a business trip to the United States to "deepen Ukrainian-American interparliamentary cooperation." Since then, the MP has not returned. This is reported by "Schemes" with reference to sources in law enforcement agencies and in parliamentary circles, UNN reports.
"He went on this business trip after the SBI began investigating the circumstances of his other trip abroad in December 2023, in the summer of 2023, when Kunitsky received permission from the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada to go on a short-term business trip to Israel, but returned only three weeks later," the statement said.
In a comment to Schemes, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk, said that "the very fact of the criminal case does not create any restrictions on the activities of MPs." Kunitskiy last participated in the voting during the 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 MP was present was in October, via video conference.
As Schemes has learned, Oleksandr Kunytskyi arranged a business trip to the United States from September 21 to 28, 2024. The purpose of the trip is to "deepen Ukrainian-American interparliamentary cooperation.
At the request of Skhemy, the Verkhovna Rada did not provide information about this business trip, noting that "information on business trips of MPs of Ukraine during the special period is included in the list of information constituting official information." At the same time, the VR Secretariat emphasized that "no reimbursement of travel expenses from the state budget was made.
The deputy left Ukraine on September 23 and has not returned for three months as of December. According to the electronic system of the Verkhovna Rada, the last time the MP participated in the plenary sessions of the parliament was from September 17 to 20 (on September 20, he did not vote all day). However, back in October, he attended a meeting of his committee on law enforcement via videoconference, as its chairman, Serhiy Ionushas, told Schemes.
"As far as I know, I did not participate in the committee's meetings after that, nor in the meetings of the Verkhovna Rada," Ionushas said.
In a commentary to journalists, First Deputy Speaker Oleksandr Kornienko said that, according to his information, the Parliament's Secretariat tried to contact the MP but "did not receive a clear answer.
"As the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada, we always emphasize the need for discipline and attendance of MPs at meetings. The chairman always addresses absent MPs in accordance with the rules of procedure. Of course, this is an unpleasant situation. Moreover, Kunitsky is not the only case - there have been other MPs with similar situations," Kornienko said.
Kunitsky received permission to travel abroad to the United States after Ukrainian law enforcement began investigating the circumstances of his other trip to Israel in the summer of 2023, despite the ban on traveling abroad without proper grounds for officials.
Then, as Skhemy found out, Kunytskyi received approval from the Verkhovna Rada to go on a short-term business trip for five days, but stayed abroad for almost three weeks. After that, the then Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin initiated criminal proceedings under the articles "official forgery" and "use of a knowingly forged document". "Skhemy appealed to the State Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the case, to clarify the stage of the investigation and what investigative actions have been taken, but in response, the State Bureau said that this information is classified.
It is noted that at the same time, new stories appear almost daily on the deputy's Facebook page, in particular regarding an incident that occurred at the beginning of the war. In March 2022, Kunitsky was detained for filming a checkpoint. A trial is currently underway against the police officers.
Addendum
Following the fugitive MP Artem Dmytruk, another MP, Oleksandr Kunytskyi, is likely to have fled Ukraine.
The Bihus.info project reported that following the fugitive MP Artem Dmytruk, another MP, Oleksandr Kunytskyi, may have fled Ukraine.