Former mayor Ruslan Bodelan said goodbye in Odesa

On June 29, relatives, friends and family said goodbye to former Odesa Mayor Ruslan Bodelan, who died on June 26.

The current mayor, Gennadiy Trukhanov, also came to say goodbye.

Ruslan Bodelan was a Soviet party activist and Ukrainian politician. First Secretary of the Odesa Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, Chairman of the Odesa Regional Council, Mayor of Odesa (August 1998 - April 2005). He has the title of "Honorary Citizen of Odesa".

In April 2005, after the Orange Revolution, a criminal case was opened against Bodelan for abuse of office in the interests of third parties, and on May 5 he was put on the international wanted list. But he fled to Russia and worked as deputy head of the St. Petersburg International Trade Port. In January 2006, according to official data, Bodelan received Russian citizenship. However, in 2010, criminal cases against Bodelan were closed and he allegedly returned to Odesa.

Ruslan Bodelan's son, Volodymyr, did not attend the ceremony. As reported by the Center for Public Investigations, Volodymyr , the son of former mayor Bodelan Jr. was put on the wanted list in Ukraine. The court imposed a pre-trial restraint on him in the form of detention. Bodelan is accused of ordering rescuers not to respond to calls on May 2. As a result, 42 people died. At the time of these tragic events, Volodymyr Bodelan was the head of the Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service in Odesa Oblast.

After the incident, he immediately fled to Crimea and began to cooperate with the occupation authorities. In June 2023, the Pechersk Court of Kyiv granted the request of law enforcement officers and imposed a pre-trial restraint in the form of detention on the former head of the Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service, Volodymyr Bodelan.

In October 2020, in the Russian-occupied Crimea, Volodymyr Bodelan became the deputy head of the Simferopol district administration. He took up his new position on October 5, before that he was "an assistant to the head of the Crimean Main Directorate for the Support of the Republic".

Photo: Odesa City Hall

Кирило Бойко