Oleksandr Kunytskyi
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Oleksandr Kunytskyi | |
|---|---|
Олександр Куницький | |
 Official portrait, 2019 | |
| People's Deputy of Ukraine | |
| Assumed office 28 August 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Oleksandr Kirsh |
| Constituency | Kharkiv Oblast, No. 169 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 25 August 1983 |
| Citizenship | Ukraine, Israel |
| Party | Servant of the People |
| Other political affiliations | Independent |
| Occupation | blogger, private entrepreneur, politician |
Oleksandr Olehovych Kunytskyi (Ukrainian: Олександр Олегович Куницький; born 25 August 1983) is a Ukrainian and Israeli blogger, private entrepreneur, and politician. He is People's Deputy of Ukraine of 9th convocation as a member of Servant of the People party.[1] He is also known as ZP Sanek. He used this nickname during the election.[2]
He has vocational education. He studied at Vocational and Technical Education center No 6 in Zaporizhzhia (Confectionery specialization).
He is a head of Chystyi Kharkiv (Clean Kharkiv) public organization.
According to media, apart from Ukrainian citizenship, Kunytskyi has also Israeli citizenship.[3] As of 29 August 2019, he was wanted by police because of a fight with the ATO participant.[4]
Kunytskyi has been included into the database of the Myrotvorets site due to violation of the legislation of Ukraine on citizenship by obtaining a second citizenship, which is not allowed in Ukraine.[5][6] According to Article 19 of the Ukrainian Law on Citizenship, the voluntary acquisition by a citizen of Ukraine of citizenship of another state is the basis for losing Ukrainian citizenship.[7]
Political career
Kunytskyi was People's Deputy candidate as a member of Servant of the People party in the 2019 parliamentary elections (constituency No 169, Kyiv district, part of the Moscow district of Kharkiv).[8] In the constituency, Kunytskyi gained 47.99% of the total vote.[8] At the time of the election, he was a non-partisan individual entrepreneur, living in Kharkiv.[2]
He is a member of the Verkhovna Rada committee on law enforcement,[3] a co-chair of the group for Interparliamentary relations with the State of Israel,[4] and a head of the group for Interparliamentary relations with the Republic of Peru.
He is a member of Servant of the People.[5]
According to the journalists of the Radio Liberty, Kunytskyi uses his parliamentary mandate for his personal interests related to his business, "Autoenterprise" company, which is one of the key players in the electric car market in Ukraine. The People's Deputy is engaged in advertising of business that contradicts provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine. The head of the company Dmytro Nikonov stated that Kunytskyi was his business partner while being a People's Deputy.[6][9]
Scandals and sociopolitical activities
Kunytskyi became known as an activist of Road Control initiative under the nickname ZP Sanek as the owner of a YouTube channel. Together with his friend Vitaliy Kosenko, he acted in the Zaporizhzhia-Dnipro-Kherson-Mykolaiv-Odesa area.[10]
His partners in Road Control, including Rostyslav Shaposhnykov, the organization's leader, accused Kunytskyi and Kosenko of working for the Ministry of Internal Affairs under the guise of "soft opposition" and of "raids" on certain State Automobile Inspection officials and employees. Victims have repeatedly accused Kunytskyi-Kosenko of blackmailing and money extortion.[11]
In particular, such a conflict with businessman Andriy Galenko led to the trial, and Kunytskyi was a defendant in the case when he already was a deputy.[12] During 2019–2020, the case investigation continued, according to which Kunytskyi and Vitaliy Kosenko had to pay Galenko ₴450,000 of compensation for spreading false videos on the Internet.[13]
Oleksandr Shatsky, then the prosecutor of the Zaporizhzhia region, was also blackmailed by Kosenko.[14]
At night on 26 January 2016, in the city of Zaporizhzhia, Kunytskyi's partner Kosenko was arrested while receiving a $1,500 bribe from the police for not distributing a video compromising officers online. This is part of the amount of €6,000 that Kosenko requested, according to the police. The relevant video with the fact of receiving the first part of the bribe was spread by the media.[15] In the summer of June 21, 2016, the Komunarskyi District Court of Zaporizhzhia found Vitaliy Kosenko guilty of extortion (Part 1 of Article 189 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and sentenced him to 3 years of imprisonment with a probation period of 12 months.[16]