The Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal instructed the government to consider the possibility of depriving the MP, the former head of the faction of the banned party "Opposition Platform — For Life" (OPZZh) Yurii Boyko of the title of Hero of Ukraine.
He informed about this at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers.
Shmyhal recalled that on the presidentʼs website, the petition to deprive Boyko of his rank received 25 000 votes. The interdepartmental working group, which included representatives of the government, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC), SBU, NABU, PGO and other bodies, came to the conclusion that due to the conflict of laws, some figures cannot be deprived of the highest state awards as of today.
"Thatʼs why back in December I instructed the Ministry of Justice and the First Deputy Prime Minister to work out changes to the legislation. This assignment has been fulfilled, and today the government approved the relevant project of the law. It provides that the imposition of sanctions on a person provides grounds for depriving him of state awards," Shmyhal noted.
The Prime Minister also added that the working group was instructed to reconsider the issue of depriving Boyko of the title of Hero of Ukraine and to submit proposals for consideration by the National Security and Defense Council.
- In September 2022, a petition to strip Boyko of the title of Hero of Ukraine appeared on the presidentʼs website, which later garnered more than 26 000 Ukrainian votes. In Volodymyr Zelenskyʼs answer, it was noted that the title can be revoked either because of a serious crime or if a person is under sanctions. In December, he instructed Shmyhal to analyze the grounds for sanctions.
- In 2004, Yurii Boyko received the title of Hero of Ukraine from the then president Leonid Kuchma for "significant personal services to the Ukrainian state in the development of the fuel and energy complex."