The Servant of the People (Sluha Narodu) party has suspended Oleksiy Kovalyov's membership in its parliamentary faction and is asking law enforcement to investigate whether he sided with the russian occupiers in the Kherson region.
This was announced by the spokeswoman of the Sluha Narodu Yulia Paliychuk.
Kovalev is now in russian-occupied territory.
"According to his interview with the media, he is completely voluntary. He communicates with the russian military, which does not take any action against him. He does not take part in the national resistance to russian aggression and occupation. In addition, he does not attend plenary sessions of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, does not take part in voting for important bills in martial law." is said in a joint statement of the political party and the faction.
It is noted that such behavior of Kovalyov and cases of his communication with the occupying forces arouse suspicion of his treason.
After all, in the temporarily occupied territories (including the Kherson region), the occupying forces abduct current and former heads of local governments, teachers, artists, business leaders, and forcibly mobilize men to the occupying forces.
“Against this background, Kovalyov's behavior is incompatible neither with the title of People's Deputy of Ukraine, nor even more so with membership in the Sluha Narodu faction. It is essentially a betrayal of those party members and deputies of all levels who are now taking part in the national resistance, being in the temporarily occupied territories, serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and, in particular, terrorist defense units, helping the army and migrants, negotiating with colleagues. Allied countries to expand Ukraine's assistance," is said in “Sluha Narodu”.
Sluha Narodu party and the party faction appealed to Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, head of the Security Service Ivan Bakanov, to open a criminal case and thoroughly investigate all the facts and circumstances of Kovalyov's stay in the temporarily occupied territory and his communication with the occupying forces.
According to the investigation, the party and the faction will make political decisions about this deputy.
Kovalyov was elected for 186 districts in the Kherson region. He is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Excise Tax and Legislative Regulation of the Alcohol, Alcohol and Tobacco Market of the Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy. In December 2020, he appeared in the news as a People’s Deputy who distributed packed fish to voters in his constituency.
In December last year, it became known that Kovalyov had acquired Channel 4, which belonged to Dmitry Dobrodomov. The next day, he declared the purchase of the TV channel a "gift from his parents."