“Joker-2”. Servant of the People MP Roman Hryshchuk Pranks Political Strategist Who Called Him a Raider

People's deputies are taking up pranks.

People's Deputy from Servant of the People Roman Hryshchuk, elected in Kyiv's 222nd majoritarian constituency, spoke with a political strategist who had published negative materials about him in blogs on internet news sites, introducing himself as an investigative journalist. The corresponding video came into the editorial office's possession TK Media (video at the end of the article). 

In the recording, the deputy calls political strategist Andriy Zolotarev, introducing himself as journalist Mikhail Koval, who is investigating deputies of the presidential faction. 

On December 9, Andriy Zolotarev published an article in the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper titled “Scandals with Deputy Hryshchuk and Other ‘New Faces’ May Hit Zelensky”. In it, the political analyst called Hryshchuk a “raider” who helps seize the dormitory building at 19/8 Polevaya Street, taking the building away from the company Kyivhorstroy-2. The article was reprinted with a link to the Golos UA website and had signs of being commissioned. 

The People's Deputy asked Zolotarev on whose behalf Hryshchuk might be dealing with the dormitory issue and whether the deputy really receives money for it. Andriy Zolotarev introduced himself as a “political strategist” and confirmed that Roman Hryshchuk may be receiving money, but could not name the amount. Zolotarev also could not name who the raiders are on whose behalf Hryshchuk works.

When Hryshchuk asked him to comment on the Supreme Court of Ukraine's ruling, which recognized the eviction of the dormitory's residents as illegal, Zolotarev could not answer and hung up. The political strategist also could not explain on whose behalf People's Deputy Hryshchuk might have “raided” the building.

What happened before?

On November 7, unknown people in military uniform tried to evict residents of the dormitory from the building at Polevaya Street 19/8. The unknown individuals used force and tear gas against local residents. Police, People's Deputy Hryshchuk and activists of the Virok organization managed to stop the attempt to forcibly seize the building.

As reported earlier, the owner of the building is PrAT Trest Kyivmiskbud-2. The company plans to evict residents and demolish the house, building a new high-rise in its place. The residents of the dormitory are former employees of Kyivhorstroy and their families, who worked at the company for a long time; some have lived in the dormitory for 15-20 years. Earlier, at the initiative of the building's owner, the house was cut off from utilities and electricity. Unknown persons also broke open gas meters, which, according to Kyivgaz, put residents at risk of explosion. The conflict between the dormitory's residents and the building's owner has been going on for more than a year.

Why is this important?

Despite the fact that the building's owner is Trest Kyivhorstroy-2, 32 families live in the dormitory, for whom it is their only place of residence. Instead of settling the dispute by legal methods and offering residents alternatives, the company resorts to illegal forceful actions, intimidation, hooliganism, hiring private security structures and using special equipment.

On December 5, the Supreme Court recognized as illegal the eviction of residents from the dormitory and overturned the appellate court's decision on evicting people. This is the first decision in a series of similar proceedings pending before a panel of judges. It was precisely on the basis of the first-instance court's decision that residents were illegally attempted to be evicted from the dormitory in November.