The expulsion of Tishchenko: how it happened: Nikolay Tishchenko is now a non-factional deputy, photo: Nikolay Tishchenko’s Facebook page
After a publicized scandal involving a trip to Thailand from the Servant of the People (SN) party and its parliamentary faction expelled People’s Deputy Nikolai Tishchenko, writes Country.
Many saw this as a deliberate punishment for breaking the new travel rules for high-ranking officials, including parliamentarians, which were established just before the scandal by the president’s decree.
However, political circles are discussing a potential underlying reason for this significant story.
Unconfirmed business trip and Tishchenko's expulsion
Nikolai Tishchenko, a people’s deputy from the SN, once again faced public disgrace, but this time with serious consequences for himself.
January 26 Embassy of Ukraine in Thailand published an announcement inviting Ukrainian citizens living in the country to come on January 27 to a meeting with Tishchenko in one of the hotels in Bangkok.
Of course, the presence of any people’s deputy in an exotic country during a war would attract attention. However, it was Nikolay Tishchenko, who had been involved in multiple scandals, the most notable being the secret operation of his Kyiv restaurant Velur during the coronavirus lockdown, and the party he hosted in a Kiev hotel, also during the lockdown, with fireworks to celebrate his wife.
In both cases, Tishchenko managed to avoid repercussions, with some attributing this to his close relationship with the head of the President’s Office Andriy Yermak. This, along with the incidents themselves, has damaged the image of the SN and the government team, which has emphasized the need for everyone to adhere to quarantine measures.
The situation with Tishchenko in Thailand was perceived as another case of his disregard for rules, this time during a war.
Another significant factor was the decision to tighten the rules for officials traveling abroad, including parliamentarians, made a few days before the news about Tishchenko's trip to Thailand by the National Security and Defense Council. accepted a resonant decision to tighten the rules for officials traveling abroad, including parliamentarians, as reported by Strana, now permits this solely for business purposes.
Tishchenko, in a post on his Facebook page, claims to have been in Southeast Asia for two weeks, visiting Thailand and Vietnam as the co-chair of the parliamentary friendship group.
He left before the National Security and Defense Council's decision, and the legality of his border crossing is being investigated by the State Border Service. confirmed But few people noticed this, as well as the explanations of the deputy himself. And he
in a post that he went “on a business trip” in compliance with the president’s orders to strengthen friendships with Asian and African countries. And all the leaders are “in the know”, as reportedly the head of the faction David Arakhamia. wrote He said in Thailand he had a “meeting with partners”, and “an important diplomatic agreement was reached to support Ukraine” (so in the post).
“I don’t hide my whereabouts, all my meetings are official and documented,” Tishchenko.
Despite the scandal, Tishchenko plans to continue his “business trip”.
I will come back with a positive outcome for the country
““, – concluded Tishchenko.The fact that the leadership of the faction and parliament is aware of his trip, Tishchenko also emphasized in intra-faction correspondence, “leaked” to Telegram channels.
But this contradicted the official statement of speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk that the Rada did not send Tishchenko abroad.
And Arakhamia quickly initiated the removal of the deputy from the post of deputy head of the faction with the simultaneous exclusion from it, as well as from the SN itself.
I see that not everyone understands what members of parliament should do during the war
““, – said the head of the faction.Criticized Tishchenko and colleagues in the faction.
Tishchenko in Thailand? What about the president’s ban? So, hangs around there even earlier? Pozo
“r,” MP Maryana Bezuglaia (SN), who has a difficult relationship with her colleague, wrote on her Facebook page.Soon the chairman of the Council of Ministers and the deputy head of her faction, Elena Shulyak
about the exclusion of Tishchenko from the party ranks. And the faction launched a poll-vote. At the same time, at first there were rumors that the necessary number of votes for the expulsion of Tishchenko was not being collected, but this was denied by the interlocutors of the “Strana” in the faction. The people’s deputy’s excuses in internal chats had no effect. On the morning of January 27, his expulsion was officially confirmed. informed There was no particular discussion whether to exclude him. According to my information, only 12 people did not support the decision on Tishchenko or remained silent about him. Some of them are his friends, whom, according to the concepts, they could not do this. The result, in principle, was already clear by the evening of the same day. But according to our rules, such a vote lasts 36 hours, so its results were made public so late
“”, says a source in the faction, who asked for anonymity.He said the outcome regarding Tishchenko was certain, partly because he “had few supporters” in the faction.
In his intra-factional group of 15 people, 4 remained, including himself. And now he’s going to be a lonely freak
““, says the source.The former location of the OP Tishchenko, too, as the interlocutor insists, lost.
Yermak has not answered the phone for two years when Tishchenko calls him. In the OP, his move has also been closed for a long time. If once there was a relationship, then for some time Tishchenko simply sold it in the absence of such
“Yermak has not answered the phone for two years when Tishchenko calls him. In the OP, his move has also been closed for a long time. If once there was a relationship, then for some time Tishchenko simply sold it in the absence of such“, – says the source.
Speed is everything
From the outside, everything looks as if Tishchenko was really “leaked” into the OP. They would not openly defend him, but they could give instructions to confine himself to “demoting” to ordinary deputies, which would blow off steam. Political strategist Andrei Zolotarev believes that the tough decision on Tishchenko was the result of a series of recent high-profile corruption scandals in the echelon of power.
“The context forced the authorities to do this with Tishchenko, which, perhaps, they did not want to do. Zelensky felt that it was better to sacrifice such a toxic figure than to endure new attacks, ”the expert comments to Strana.
But here’s what’s interesting: the Tishchenko scandal “interrupted” topics revelations corrupt officials and recent high-profile resignations. That is, the authorities could play this moment in their favor (although there is an opinion that all this was generally a performance played in order to divert public attention from both corruption with reshuffles and the difficult situation at the front).
The expulsion of Tishchenko: how it was
However, there is another version. Some drew attention to the speed with which Arakhamia launched the process of expelling Tishchenko from the SN structures. There is a suspicion that this is not an accident, but a consequence of allegedly tense relations between Arakhamia and Yermak. According to rumors, at the beginning of the war, Arakhamia increased his influence, which aroused the enmity of Yermak, who then made a lot of efforts to push the head of the faction into the shadows.
The expulsion of Tishchenko is a hairpin against Yermak, with whom Tishchenko is traditionally associated.
In principle, if the post about the need to expel Tishchenko from the faction and the Arakhamia party wrote on his own initiative, of course, Bankovaya could no longer win back without losing face.
The interlocutor in the faction recognizes the complexity of the current relationship between Arakhamia and Yermak, but this allegedly was not a decisive factor in the situation with the people’s deputy-scandal.
“Everyone got drunk on this shit back in the Velour case and decided to put an end to it this time“, – says the source.
There are also rumors that Tishchenko will be ordered to give up the mandate.
One of the people’s deputy’s close acquaintances told Strana that he would not resist if such an order was received.
“For Tishchenko, after being expelled from the faction, being a deputy will not be an opportunity to resolve issues, but an unnecessary burden. Declarations to hand over, constantly be under the gun of the public. He’s tired of all this“, says the source.
Denis Rafalsky
DOSSIER: Nikolay Tishchenko: from Kolya Obolonsky to “servant of the people”. Part 1
