Son of former Kharkiv mayor Hennadiy Kernes regularly meets with Muraiev in Europe - sources

The son of former Kharkiv mayor Gennadiy Kernes, Kyrylo, regularly meets in Austria with the leader of the banned pro-Russian party Nashi, Yevhen Muraiev. UNN learned about this from its own sources.

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According to the source, Kernes and Muraiev meet in Vienna. As previously reported, the pro-Russian politician and his family live in Vienna, where he was able to flee after the start of the full-scale invasion. It is worth noting that in the second half of January 2022, British intelligence reported that Russia wanted to bring a pro-Russian leader to power in Kyiv, and former MP Yevhen Muraiev was considered one of the candidates for the post of Ukraine's governor. In the first days of the full-scale invasion, the politician himself stated that Ukraine would have to surrender and he had long proposed to supply water to Crimea and to part peacefully with the unrecognized self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.  In particular, this may explain why he remained in Ukraine for some time and did not flee before February 24, 2022.

In addition, UNN's sources note that Yevhen Muraiev promised the position of Kharkiv's mayor to Kirill Kernes if Russia makes him "the ruler of Ukraine." Recently, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said during a speech at the board of the Russian Defense Ministry that he would not give up his goals in the war against Ukraine. In addition, the other day, BILD military analyst Julian Röpke, citing intelligence sources, said that Russia intends to continue military operations in Ukraine until 2026, and during this time plans to capture most of Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, and Kharkiv regions, including their regional centers.  President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that such narratives by Putin show that he does not want peace and emphasized that the most powerful line of defensive fortifications has been prepared in Kharkiv region.

Experts interviewed by UNN also do not believe in the reality of Russia's intentions to seize Kharkiv. However, Putin's statements seem to have stirred up the wild imagination of Yevhen Muraiev and Kyrylo Kernes. After almost two years of living abroad, they are so detached from the reality of what is happening in Ukraine and Kharkiv that they hope to get the "positions they were promised." Otherwise, how can we explain the appearance of Kyrylo Kernes in the information field after three years of silence and his hints that he wants to become mayor of Kharkiv? Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Kharkiv residents have already shown that they are not waiting for the "Russian world" in Kharkiv and are ready to repel the Russian invasion.

Earlier, political expert Ihor Reiterovych in his commentary for UNN emphasized that Russia does not abandon its intentions to capture Kharkiv and the entire Kharkiv region, although they do not have sufficient resources to do so today. However, the Kremlin is already conducting information attacks to destabilize the situation in the city. In particular, the aggressor country can use people who are abroad, but not in Russia, to undermine the situation in Kharkiv.

According to him, for example, Russia can use civic activists who have traveled abroad and criticize local authorities from there, including local authorities. In his opinion, the story of Kyrylo Kernes, the son of former Kharkiv mayor Hennadiy Kernes, who appeared in the media field only three years later, is very similar.

In addition, political analyst Oleksandr Kochetkov in his comments to UNN stated that the occupiers already have a significant practice of using various kinds of IPSO to destabilize the situation, and Kyrylo Kernes' statements can be a vivid example of such work.

In his opinion, there are two explanations for Kyrylo Kernes' activity right now, which can be either separate or combined. One is material, i.e., related to money, in particular, Kyrylo Kernes may want to get or keep something that he believes belongs to him. The other is that it points to a Russian trace.

As a reminder, the Security Service of Ukraine collected evidence against the leader of the banned Nashi party, former MP Yevhen Muraiev, and in July 2023 notified him of suspicion under two articles of the Criminal Code: Part 1 of Article 111 (high treason); Part 1 of Article 161 (violation of equality of citizens based on their race, nationality, region, religious beliefs, disability and other grounds).

According to the investigation, cited by the SBU, "Muraiev used the Nash TV channel under his control to massively disseminate Kremlin narratives in the information space of Ukraine."

In this regard, in early February 2022, the NSDC imposed sanctions against Muraiev's TV channel. He faces up to 15 years in prison.