Head of Odesa District Council Decides to Resign

Vitaliy Barvinenko, the head of Odesa District Council, has resigned from his position as both the head and a deputy.

This was announced by the politician himself.

He said that he sees his main focus in the future as public activities and work with international partners, and that he will remain in Ukrainian politics and the media.

Vitaliy Barvinenko explained his decision by the fact that, in his opinion, the government, hiding behind the war, deliberately destroyed local self-government.

"Given the expiration of the five-year term for which I was elected by the people, today, having worked in office day in and day out for exactly five years, I asked the congress of the party that nominated me to the council to recall me of my own free will," the politician said.

In February, the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine approved a plea agreement between the prosecutor and Vitaliy Barvinenko, a former member of the Ukrainian parliament and head of the Odesa District Council at the time.

The court sentenced the person to three years in prison with a one-year disqualification from holding public office and a fine of UAH 17,000.

At the same time, the court released Vitaliy Barvinenko from serving the main sentence with probation, setting a probationary period of 1 year.

Political career

Member of the Parliament of Ukraine of the 7th convocation from December 2012 to November 2014, constituency #141, Odesa region, from the Party of Regions.

Member of the Parliament of Ukraine of the 6th convocation from November 2007 to December 2012 from the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, No. 154 on the list. At the time of the election: Head of the Odesa regional organization of the All-Ukrainian Union "Batkivshchyna". Member of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc faction (November 2007 - September 2010), member of the Party of Regions faction (since February 2011). Member of the Committee on Construction, Urban Development, Housing and Communal Services and Regional Policy (2007-2010).

March 2006 - candidate for the People's Deputy of Ukraine from the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, No. 154 on the list. At the time of the election: Executive Director of the UkrSeeds Service Agro-Industrial Association, member of the Batkivshchyna party.

2006 - March 2007 - worked in Odesa City Council and Odesa Regional State Administration. Head of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc faction in the Odesa Regional Council (2006-2007). Head of the Odesa regional organization of the All-Ukrainian Union "Batkivshchyna" (March 2006-2010).

2007-2019 - Member of Parliament of Ukraine of the VI-VIII convocations.

Since 2020 - Chairman of the Odesa District Council.

Scandal with separatism

In 2018, MP Mustafa Nayem accused Vitaliy Barvinenko of planning to blow up bridges across the Dniester Estuary and the Dniester in Odesa Oblast in 2015 and then announce the creation of the "Bessarabian People's Republic". This happened after the then head of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Hrytsak said in a speech at Ukrainian Week in London that the leader of the so-called "Bessarabian People's Council" was to be a current member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

In 2015, Vitaliy Barvinenko's assistant Olena Hlischynska was accused of separatism and the creation of the "People's Council of Bessarabia." She was later exchanged for Ukrainians Yuriy Soloshenko and Gennadiy Afanasiev.

Кирило Бойко