Former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko informed that the border guards did not let him go on a business trip to Poland and the United States.
According to Poroshenko, he had "dozens of meetings" planned for him in Poland and the USA. With the Poles, in particular, Poroshenko was going to talk about lifting the blockade of carriers at the border, and with the Americans — about continuing to finance military aid to Ukraine. He stated that he has in his hands the order on the business trip signed by the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (the Ukrainian Parliament) Ruslan Stefanchuk, but the border guards did not miss it.
In a media comment, the spokesman of the State Border Service Andriy Demchenko informed that the border guards did not let Poroshenko abroad because his business trip was canceled.
Later, the first vice-speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Kornienko announced on the air of a telethon that he canceled Petro Poroshenkoʼs international business trip after receiving a letter marked "For official use", the content of which he cannot divulge.
"He [Poroshenko] indicated as the main reason — participation in a non-parliamentary event, the party forum of the International Democratic Union, a community that probably includes European Solidarity." He wrote that in parallel with this there will be some other high-level meetings. According to our internal principles, participation in party events is allowed, but when the FOU letter arrived, which I cannot comment on, we were forced to cancel this business trip," explained Kornienko.
At the same time, he assured that the Verkhovna Rada works "normally" in the field of parliamentary diplomacy — that is, the registration of foreign business trips for deputies from various parliamentary factions and groups, including "European Solidarity", continues.
- After the start of the full-scale invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine on the morning of February 24, 2022, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, declared martial law and general mobilization. Martial law provides, in particular, a ban on travel abroad for men aged 18-60 who are subject to conscription for military service during mobilization, with special exceptions.
- During May 27-28, 2022, Poroshenko twice tried to cross Ukraineʼs border with Poland. The ex-president was not released due to problems with confirming the validity of the permission document for departure. During passport control, Poroshenko provided a copy of Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ruslan Stefanchukʼs order on the delegationʼs business trip, but the border guards were unable to read the QR code.