Ukraine MP kicked out of parliament after visiting Thailand in unapproved trip

A lawmaker in Ukraine is now without his job after posting a video of him on an unapproved holiday in Thailand. Mykola Tyshchenko posted a video of him splashing around in the ocean on Facebook while saying that he was on an approved business trip in Asia.

According to the Pattaya Mail, he furthered his intentions for some fun in the sun by saying that he was “acting exclusively in the interests of Ukraine.” But, parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk says he never approved such a trip.

The video and idea that he had taken a trip did not sit well with anyone as Ukraine is in the midst of fighting off Russia’s invasion.

Party spokesperson Yulia Paliychuk says that Tyshchenko was expelled from the Servant of the People’s voting bloc after making an announcement that he would meet members of the Ukrainian diaspora at a hotel in Thailand.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy responded to the public outcry over Tyshchenko’s trip by banning private trips abroad by Ukrainian officials. As most of the country’s men who are aged 18-60 have been barred from leaving the country under martial law, the new ban is thought to be part of Zelenskiy’s aim to hold officials more accountable.

The crackdown on officials in Ukraine has seen more than a dozen senior officials resign or be fired this week. Perhaps the most significant controversy involving a Ukrainian official is that of a deputy prosecutor who had come under fire for taking a holiday in Spain.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, following the latter country’s Revolution of Dignity. Pro-Russian separatists were backed by Russia in the war in Donbas against Ukrainian government forces. For the first eight years of the conflict, the world barely recognised the unrest, which included cyber warfare and naval incidents.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The invasion has caused tens of thousands of deaths on both sides and has seen Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II.