More than ten peopleʼs deputies went abroad before the start of Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine and have not yet returned.
This was stated by the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk in an interview with Ukrainian Pravda.
"I periodically ask the head of the Border Guard Service to give me lists of MPs who have crossed the border. This is necessary in order to really see the picture. This is unofficial information, it cannot be provided officially and I just need it so that we understand the issues of payments and charges inside", Stefanchuk added.
According to the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, MPs are now voting for laws with the board off. There was an agreement — in wartime to vote this way.
"But we need to somehow calculate the salary, so I and the apparatus receive such information that those who are abroad, this salary is not accrued", — said Ruslan Stefanchuk.
- On October 29, 2019, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law according to which if an MP is absent by 70% of plenary sessions, he will not receive a salary.