Zelensky calls for dismissal of Gogilashvili. Meanwhile, other scandals involving him are surfacing in the media

It has become known that he is a citizen of Russia, and he received Ukrainian citizenship only in 2015.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the Cabinet to dismiss scandal-hit Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Oleksandr Gogilashvili. 

Meanwhile, several media outlets managed to obtain information from sources in the Police about other similar “blunders” by Gogilashvili, and also conducted investigations that revealed other notable details about Gogilashvili’s trip to the JFO zone, as well as learned that he holds a Russian passport.

US Embassy armored vehicle, HUR guard and Russian citizenship

As journalist Yuriy Butusov said, Gogilashvili uses an armored car from the US Embassy for transportation, and along with it, during a conflict with police at a checkpoint in the JFO zone in Donetsk Region, there was a guard from the HUR of the Ministry of Defense. 

He said that at the “Dolyna” checkpoint in Kramatorsk district on Wednesday, December 8, two cars with civilian license plates arrived: a Toyota Land Cruiser 200 carrying Gogilashvili, and a Volkswagen Tuareg carrying his armed guards.

As Butusov notes, according to the law, a deputy minister is not entitled by status to an armored car and personal security. According to sources of “Censor.net,” Gogilashvili’s guard consists of six special forces officers from the HUR of the Ministry of Defense, military unit 2245.

Yuriy Butusov
editor-in-chief of Censor.NET

But no less resonant is that, according to sources in the HUR of the Ministry of Defense, an armored car provided by the US Embassy to ensure the safety of Ukrainian military intelligence officers is used to transport Gogilashvili, and specifically this Toyota previously transported HUR special forces commander Yuriy Semeniuk, the same intelligence officer who recently spoke out about the Wagnergate scandal, exposing the presence of Russian “moles” in the Presidential Office, and who was fired after the failed special operation to capture Wagner fighters.

Also, according to him, Oleksandr Gogilashvili received a higher education diploma only at age 45, “just before his appointment as deputy interior minister in September 2019, from some little-known university.”

The journalist added that he worked for most of his life in Russia, where he was an assistant to a boxer, and now State Duma deputy Nikolai Valuev. 

At the same time, Butusov hinted at “nepotism” between President Zelensky and Gogilashvili.

Yuriy Butusov
journalist

In fact, only one thing is reliably known about Gogilashvili: having arrived in Ukraine in 2010 according to some data, or in 2013 according to others, he married Maria Levchenko, personal secretary of Volodymyr Zelensky. And Gogilashvili, judging by numerous photos, is personally friends with Zelensky. This turned out to be enough for a person with an unknown biography, who arrived from Russia with a diploma of unclear origin, to be appointed to a high state post. And this is enough for Gogilashvili to enjoy privileges, security and cars that the state does not provide to most ministers.

The Center for Journalistic Investigations, citing data from the Federal Tax Service of Russia, stated that Gogilashvili’s Russian passport remains valid even after he took Ukrainian citizenship.

Journalists note that Gogilashvili received a Russian Federation passport (number 6004531705) on November 12, 2003, in the Leninsky District of Rostov-on-Don.

Also, the Ukrainian top official has an active individual taxpayer number in Russia, 616404621705, which is confirmed by information from the database of the Federal Tax Service of Russia.

“According to some data, Gogilashvili has been in Ukraine since 2010, therefore he obtained the Russian foreign passport already during the Ukrainian period of his biography,” journalists said.

Zelensky’s reaction

President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the interior minister and the government to dismiss Oleksandr Gogilashvili from the post of deputy minister.

In his message, Zelensky emphasized that a democratic state cannot exist without ordinary human equality, in particular, without equality between those holding any state positions and those subordinate to them.

Volodymyr Zelensky 
President of Ukraine

In my opinion, there can be only one response to the incident involving Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Oleksandr Gogilashvili. I ask the Minister of Internal Affairs and the Cabinet of Ministers to consider dismissing the deputy head of the Interior Ministry. I am sure that the corresponding resignation letter has already been written by the deputy himself.

Zelensky also said that the response to a lawful request from a police officer should be proper behavior from every person, regardless of position, social status or other circumstances.

“Are you stupid?”: Gogilashvili staged a similar scandal in Kyiv just three weeks ago

Following the high-profile video of the scandal that Deputy Interior Minister Oleksandr Gogilashvili staged at the entrance to the JFO zone, rank-and-file police officers gave journalist Mykhailo Tkach of Ukrainska Pravda a new video recording of another incident.

As the video shows, on November 24 patrol police officers in Kyiv stopped Gogilashvili’s car to check documents. This angered the official, and he began insulting the law enforcement officers and asking why they “did not recognize the boss.”

At the same time, the police officers tried calmly to explain that they were only doing their job.

“Are you stupid? Are you f**ing crazy or what?! What’s wrong with you, are you nuts?” Gogilashvili said to the patrol officer.

The footage may contain partially cut obscene language, and the official’s behavior is reminiscent of the times when fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych and his henchmen from the “Party of Regions” were in power.