The MP Artem Dmytruk, who illegally went abroad, says that "the Office of the President threatened to liquidate him" — thatʼs why he left Ukraine.
Dmytruk told about this in an interview with lawyer Taras Nykyforchuk.
Dmytruk claims that since 2022 they have tried to kill him several times. However, he decided to leave Ukraine at the moment when the alleged persecution of him and his family "gained maximum momentum."
"They just wanted to eliminate me. The instruction came from the Presidentʼs Office, I have been watched by the special services of Ukraine and organized criminal groups for a long time, for several months, they themselves confirmed this," says Dmytruk.
So he decided to go abroad on August 20, when the parliament passed the law banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP).
Already on August 21, his family left for Moldova, and on August 23, Dmytruk himself asked a friend to take him to Odesa region, where he "got out of the car and went to Moldova." On August 24, he reached the 1st department of the Moldovan police near the “Palanka” checkpoint.
"I had to walk with my briefcase for a long, long time to reach this part of Moldova," said Dmytruk.
Already in Moldova, Dmytruk received a special document that gave permission to leave the territory of Moldova, and went to Italy.
The case of Artem Dmytruk
On August 25, the MP Artem Dmytruk was informed of suspicion due to attacks on a law enforcement officer and a military officer. A few hours before that, information appeared in the media that Dmytruk had illegally left the country. The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has begun an investigation into how the MP Dmytruk left Ukraine and who helped him. Later, he was declared an international wanted man, and the court in absentia chose a preventive measure for the MP.
SBI suspects three people of helping the MP to cross the border illegally, two of them also left Ukraine. The Kyivsky District Court of the city of Odesa chose a preventive measure for the third co-conspirator — he will be kept in custody for two months, he can also post a bail of 5 million hryvnias.