From office rental to PR campaigns: which Ukrainian parties spend budget funds more than others

A financial scandal broke out among political parties in Kyiv. It turned out that parties spend significant sums on their needs, often using public funds.

The Servant of the People party stood out among the rest, Chestno reports. In three months they spent 131 million hryvnia, of which 83 million were received from the state budget. The majority of expenses consisted of financing regional structures and renting offices.

In particular, almost 5 million hryvnia were spent on renting the Kyiv office. In addition, the party spent about 26 million hryvnia on PR campaigns, printing materials and organizing events.

The European Solidarity party spent 16 million hryvnia, which is eight times less than the expenses of the Servant of the People. Of this amount, 11 million came from government funding. The party also donated more than a million hryvnia to charity, directly to the account of the military unit.

The Batkivshchyna party spent 5.5 million hryvnia on legal services and advertising. The bulk of these funds, 2.5 million hryvnia, went to the law firm Finkel and Gimpelson, whose owners have connections with the party.

The Golos party, despite the cessation of state funding, spent 4 million hryvnia on the services of a little-known company, Rend G Consulting.

The party also allocated money to public organizations and anti-corruption centers, but the purposes of these payments remained unclear.