Recently, Oleksiy Kovalyov, an MP from the "Servant of the People" party, returned to the occupied Kherson oblast, where his district and business are located. He was let in unhindered. A few weeks ago, the Russian military came to Kovalyov, spent several hours with him, and left. The MPʼs decision to return was received with great suspicion by the party and he was expelled from party chats.
Oleksiy Kovalyov spoke about this in an interview with "Babel".
The MP claims that from the first day of the war no one — neither the chairman of the party, nor the head of the faction, nor the vice-speaker, nor the speaker — called him or asked anything.
"I wrote in the official chat that I was in Kherson. I said that if someone needs to evacuate people, we can arrange it. At that time to Mykolayiv. There are serious attacks now in Mykolayiv, and massive artillery attacks, therefore now it is difficult to speak about evacuation. Nobody answered anything," Kovalyov said.
According to him, they began to react to the situation when the MP commented to Radio Svoboda. Although a week earlier he had written about a visit by the Russian military on Facebook.
However, Kovalyov did not report this in the party chat. According to him, he does not have time to write in the official chat of the faction, because there are many incomprehensible things and unimportant information. Now Oleksiy Kovalyov has already been expelled from several "Servants of the People" party chats.
"Excluded from three or four chats. And the main thing is that I was expelled in silence, they didnʼt even talk to me," MP said.
Kovalyov said he did not know why the Russians had not abducted him, like other mayors, journalists, and activists. He also does not understand why Russians may be interested in him.
"They can also recruit in the territory controlled by Ukraine. I am ready to undergo a polygraph, if necessary," MP assured.
- In an interview with Babel, First Vice-Speaker Kornienko called the situation with Kovalyov, a servant who had returned to the occupied Kherson oblast, strange.