“I went at my own expense to the decision of the National Security Council.” Mykola Tyshchenko told how he got to Thailand

The MP Mykola Tyshchenko said that he went on a business trip to Thailand at his own expense to work on the presidentʼs strategy for Asian countries, and all the leaders of the "Servant of the People" faction knew about his trip.

He told about this in an interview with Babel.

According to Tyshchenko, he crossed the border with a biometric passport on January 10, 2023.

"I didnʼt even take the famous green diplomatic passport, which allows you not to stand in lines, but to quickly cross the border. Why did I do that? The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the President forbade taking diplomatic passports on any trips," he explained.

Tyshchenko emphasized that he went to Thailand at his own expense before the NSDC decision [on January 23] and has all the documents with the signatures of the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Stefanchuk and the head of the "Servant of the People" faction Arakhamia. But these are documents not about a business trip, but about a vacation. According to Tyshchenko, formally, his business trip is a vacation, because he traveled at his own expense.

Mykola Tyshchenko is currently in Vietnam "as part of the strategy of parliamentary work."

"There was a meeting in "Parkovyi", the top leadership of the country set a task for every MP, every deputy head of the faction, which I am, to work with the deputies and to do work on directions. They chose strategic directions — the Arab Emirates, Asia, Africa. Countries that today, letʼs say, do not understand what is happening in the European part of the world," Tyshchenko explained.

To the question of who exactly set him such a task, the MP answered:

"There was a meeting of the faction, there were representatives of the Office of the President, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. [Davyd] Arakhamia, Mr. Andriy Yermak, Ihor Zhovkva, there were representatives responsible for directions, heads of committees. Itʼs not a secret, they know about it, from that meeting they conducted zoom, exhibited photos."

Tyshchenko did not specify what exactly he will do after arriving in Ukraine, saying that this is confidential information, but assured that after several meetings in Vietnam, he will be in the parliament in a few days.

• On January 26, the MP Mykola Tyshchenko and then deputy head of the "Servant of the People" faction, got into yet another scandal. The Embassy of Ukraine in Thailand announced his meeting "with the Ukrainian community" at the 4-star Novotel hotel in Bangkok. This outraged the deputies and social networks. On January 23rd, the Council of National Security and Defense during martial law allowed civil servants to be sent abroad exclusively on business trips. In a few hours, Tyshchenko was expelled from the party, and the next day, having collected the required number of votes, from the "Servant of the People" faction.