First deputy mayor of Poltava takes journalists to a restaurant for a press conference

The Poltava City Council announced a press conference with the first deputy mayor Valeriy Parkhomenko for October 3. The event took place in a restaurant instead of the City Council building, reports Nadia Kucher, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Poltava oblast.

The day before, the IMI representative asked the City Council representatives in the group chat with journalists to explain the post by the former Poltava Mayor Oleksandr Mamay. His post said that he "had a serious conversation with the first and relevant deputy mayor" (i.e. Valeriy Parkhomenko, the issue being teachers receiving annual bonuses on Teacher's Day), demonstrating that he had resolved the situation.

To this, Kateryna Yamshchykova, the Poltava City Council secretary and acting mayor, noted in the group chat that the media professionals' request had been taken into account and that the first deputy would explain why he was discussing the city's budget issues with Poltava's ex-mayor.

On the same day, the City Council press office officially announced that a press conference with the first deputy mayor Valeriy Parkhomenko on all issues would be held in office 223 of the City Council at 9:00 a.m. on October 3.

Instead, the journalists were taken to a restaurant, as journalist, "Poltavska Khvylia" and "Sil Media" owner Vitaliy Ulybin wrote on Facebook. He reported that a journalist from his team left the briefing after learning where it would take place.

The press conference with the first deputy mayor of Poltava took place at a restaurant and not in the City Council building, as had been planned. Photo by Vitaliy Ulybin on Facebook

"Journalists get invited to a briefing with the deputy mayor. They are officially invited by the City Council's press service. Journalists arrive at the appointed time and the official says, 'Let's talk informally,' and takes everyone to a restaurant. For the record, I'm not against informal communication per se, but I'm against f***ing with journalists. If you just want to chat over coffee, you write, 'Hey, journalists, let's go for a coffee tomorrow, waiting for you at 'Barashok' at 9:00 a.m. Let's discuss everything you want.' And then the media can at least choose to go or not to go. And this is not 'Press conference on all issues tomorrow,' this is 'Let's go to a restaurant and I will tell you that I'm running for mayor,'" wrote Ulybin.

He added that "Poltavska Khvylia" will not take part in Parkhomenko's election campaign. "There will be nothing but constructive criticism and official comments on critically important issues in the city with his participation," said Ulybin.

In the comment to the IMI representative, Vitaliy Ulybin said that it was clear right away that the event would be informal.

"Journalists were simply told to follow the first deputy mayor. He brought everyone to a restaurant where a table had already been booked for this. That is, it was not a spontaneous decision. Our journalist told the editors about this, and we decided that we would not participate in such an event, which is essentially misleading," the journalist said.

The head of the Poltava City Council press office, Maryna Serova, told the IMI representative that she had announced the event as was stated by the first deputy the day before (i.e. that it would take place in the City Council building).

"Valeriy Parkhomenko independently decided that the meeting would not be held in the City Council," said the head of the press office.

Valeriy Parkhomenko explained to the IMI representative that he had changed the venue for the press conference because a deputy commission meetning was underway in the office where the meeting with the media was supposed to take place.

"I changed it because there was a deputy commission meeting happening there, so I offered them to go to a different place so as not to mix up the work. In the restaurant, I talked about all the topics requested by the journalists," said Parkhomenko.

As reported by "Poltavshchyna", Valeriy Parkhomenko recently publicly announced his intention to run for mayor in Poltava and is actively promoting his candidacy on his own social media and on the local TV channel "IRT-Poltava".