Russian Politician Admits He’s Been Working Remotely From Ukraine Since 2021
A politician in Far East Russia’s Zabaikalsky region said he has been working remotely from Ukraine for the past four years, raising eyebrows over an apparent loophole that allowed him to keep his post during wartime.
Mikhail Nosik, 65, who serves as a local councilman in the Kalarsky district of the Zabaikalsky region, revealed in a recent ethics commission hearing that he has been living in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro since 2021, local media reported Thursday.
Nosik said he moved to Ukraine for cancer treatment after being elected to a five-year term in 2020. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Despite living in a country Russia is waging war against, Nosik has continued to participate in legislative affairs remotely using VPNs and video calls. In a Telegram call with the assembly’s ethics commission in March, he reportedly said he could not return to Russia and claimed he has been working “no worse than the other deputies.”
According to leaked minutes of that call published by the Telegram news channel Baza, Nosik denied holding Ukrainian citizenship and said he is an “active supporter” of President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s war on Ukraine. The politician said he has been “forced to hide” from Ukrainian authorities.
The Moscow Times could not independently verify Baza’s report.
Arkady Gromov, the head of the 15-member Kalarsky district assembly, told local media that Nosik was technically not breaking any laws. “He found himself in a difficult situation. He arrived in Ukraine, where he was born, just before the special military operation,” Gromov said, adding that Nosik is now “trapped.”
Baza reported that a majority of the assembly voted against removing Nosik from office. His term expires in December.
Russian prosecutors reportedly filed a complaint against Nosik in January, which prompted the ethics commission hearing.
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