Ukrainian deputies are abusing the “Shlyakh” system: abuses by parliamentarians.
Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, three former people's deputies of the Verkhovna Rada crossed the border through the Shlyakh system under the guise of volunteers going for humanitarian aid, and then did not return to Ukraine. This is stated in the NGL.media investigation.
It is noted that on July 6, 2022, a Mercedes-Benz GLE 350D with license plates KI0001RI crossed the Ugrinov checkpoint on the Ukrainian-Polish border. This combination of numbers is the “family number” of the Katsuba family.
Then the “regional” Sergei Katsuba was in the car. He never returned to his homeland. The 44-year-old ex-parliamentarian was able to leave thanks to the fact that two weeks earlier the Ministry of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure entered his personal data into the Shlyakh system as a driver-carrier of humanitarian cargo.
According to the response of the Ministry of Infrastructure at the request of NGL.media, it was not a charitable foundation or public organization that applied for permission for Katsuba to leave, as is usually the case, but a private commercial company, the Kiev-based LLC Mix Travel Group LTD.
According to YouControl, the company's main activity is the provision of information services. In July 2023, the director of Mix Travel, Sergei Boyko, was sentenced to five years probation for participation in a scheme for illegal travel of draft dodgers abroad.
Another former member of parliament who also fled Ukraine is 53-year-old Alexander Tretyakov, who was from the “Petro Poroshenko Bloc” in the 8th convocation of the Rada.
Back in March-April last year, Tretyakov reported that he was importing cars from abroad for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and providing the defenders with bulletproof vests, helmets and walkie-talkies. But after a few weeks, his publications were replaced by reposts of news and congratulations on the holidays. From these messages it was difficult to understand what the former deputy was doing and where he was, until the autumn when Ukrayinska Pravda journalist Mikhail Tkach published a photo of Tretyakov from Paris.
According to an NGL.media source in the State Border Service, Alexander Tretyakov left Ukraine on April 19, 2022. In response to the request, Ukrtransbezopasnost reported that the Lviv Regional Military Administration had included it in the Shlyakh system.
As it turned out, the Lviv People’s Self-Defense, a well-known public organization that has been helping the military since 2014, asked LOVA to help Tretyakov cross the border. According to the head of the organization, Artem Khmyz, Alexander Tretyakov himself turned to them and asked them to help him bring cargo for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
After the Russian invasion, another former “regional” parliamentarian, Alexander Zats, allegedly volunteered. In June 2022, the Kherson OVA twice entered him into the “Shlyakh” system as a volunteer, although he did not need a second permit - on June 27, Zats left the country through the Luzhanka checkpoint on the border with Hungary and never returned.
The public organization “Ukrainian National Patriotic Youth” helped 47-year-old Zats leave Lvov. It was this organization that twice sent the Kherson OVA an appeal with a request to provide him with permission to cross the border.
In telephone conversations with NGL.media, its head Petr Rapita mentioned cooperation with Zatz only on the second attempt. According to him, he really left them, but allegedly returned and brought some tactical things for the military.
