Kovalyov bought Channel 4 solely in the interests of russia and its domestic satellites – Podolyak
Adviser to the head of the President's Office Mykhailo Podolyak said that Oleksiy Kovalyov, People's Deputy suspected of collaborationism, had bought Channel 4 "solely in the interests of russia and its domestic satellites."
He said this in a comment to Radio Liberty.
"The President's Office certainly had not and could not have had anything to do with the strange acquisition of the TV channel by the future collaborator Kovalyov. That would be absolute nonsense. Such 'information' is a complete lie," he said.
According to Podolyak, such messages were spread by various political groups in their own interests in order to discredit the PO, although, in fact, Kovalyov used Channel 4 "solely in the interests of russia and its domestic satellites."
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not know about the purchase of Channel 4 by Kovalyov, one of the ruling elite's influential representatives, close to the head of state, told Radio Svoboda.
"Even the President was surprised when Kovalyov announced the purchase of this channel. He did not know about it. He wondered what was happening. That is, it was definitely not us. This was not our channel. Above all, Kovalyov wanted to support the Medvedchuk-Kozak media pool in this way," said the ruling elite's representative.
At the same time, Mykhailo Podolyak is confident that Kovalyov will be found guilty: "It seems to me that Mr. Kovalyov's face shows his future destiny: a certain collaborationist who will go through the whole process – from treason to prison."
As IMI reported, on June 8, the owner of Channel 4, People's Deputy Oleksiy Kovalyov who had left for the occupied Kherson region, admitted that he was cooperating with the russian invaders, and supported the occupation of the region by russia. On the same day, the State Bureau of Investigation announced the beginning of criminal proceedings for collaborationist activities against Oleksiy Kovalyov.
On April 28, the Servant of the People faction in the Verkhovna Rada suspended the membership of People's Deputy Oleksiy Kovalyov and appealed to the Prosecutor General and the head of the Security Service to initiate a case to investigate his stay in the temporarily occupied part of Kherson region. The deputy is suspected of treason.
Kovalev was also expelled from the parliamentary faction of the Servant of the People political party.
Oleksiy Kovalyov called the decision to suspend his membership in the Servant of the People faction "unexpected" and unfounded.
On April 28, the staff of Channel 4 asked people not to identify the channel's employees with the behavior of the channel's owner Oleksiy Kovalyov. The channel stated that Kovalyov had not been in touch since the first days of the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine and had not provided any support to the channel and its employees.
In late December 2021, it became known that Oleksiy Kovalyov bought Channel 4 from former People's Deputy Dmytro Dobrodomov.
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