Oleksiy Kovaliov, a Peopleʼs Deputy from the Servant of the People faction, who announced his cooperation with the occupiers of Kherson oblast, appropriated Channel 4 at the end of 2021 in the interests of Russia and its satellites, not the Presidentʼs Officeʼs.
Mykhailo Podoliak, an anti-crisis adviser to the head of the Presidentʼs Office, said this in a comment to Radio Svoboda.
"The Office of the President certainly had nothing to do with the strange acquisition of the TV channel by the future collaborator Kovaliov. That would be absolute nonsense, "he said.
According to Podoliak, messages about "appropriation of the channel by Kovaliov in the interests of the Presidentʼs Office" were spread by various political groups in order to compromise the Presidentʼs Office.
"Given the quality of public policy at the time, which was based on outright fakes, primitive compromising, fantastic conspiracy theories, such "information" was extremely false," Podoliak said.
- Three years ago Kovaliov was an agrarian businessman in Kherson oblast, in 2019 he became a Peopleʼs Deputy according to the "Servants of the People" lists. At the end of 2021, he bought a national TV channel. And a few months after the start of the large-scale war, the MP expressed a desire to cooperate with the occupiers.
- On June 8, at the initiative of the State Bureau of Investigation against Oleksiy Kovaliov, a Peopleʼs Deputy of Ukraine, criminal proceedings were instituted for collaborating.