The state allocated half a million hryvnias for the funeral of a politician who denied Russian aggression
The Ukrainian state will finance the burial of the first Prime Minister of Ukraine, Vytold Fokin, who in his later years denied Russian aggression in Donbas. The Economic and Financial Department of the Cabinet Secretariat was allocated 477,860 hryvnias to cover expenses related to Fokin’s burial. About this it is said in the relevant order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
“The Ministry of Finance to carry out the specified expenses at the expense of the funds of the reserve fund of the state budget”, – it is noted in the order.
Witold Fokin died at the age of 92. His house was damaged by Russian shelling, but Fokin himself was not injured, as he was staying with a friend in Moldova at the time. Vitold Fokin will be buried at Baikovo Cemetery in Kyiv.
Fokin headed the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR in 1990, and after independence became the first Prime Minister of Ukraine. He was also one of the signatories of the Bialowieza Agreement, which formally ended the existence of the USSR. In September 1992, Fokin resigned due to political and economic conflicts.
In 2020, he joined the Trilateral Contact Group for the settlement of the situation in Donbas in the position of deputy chairman, but was dismissed after making high-profile statements. His candidacy was promoted by his granddaughter through an appeal to the head of the Office of the President, Andriy Yermak.
In particular, Fokin justified the occupation of Crimea by Russia, stating that without the capture of the peninsula, “the Americans could enter, and Russia needs Crimea because of the fleet.” In September 2020, at a meeting of the specialized committee of the Verkhovna Rada, he also said that he saw no evidence of a war between Ukraine and Russia in Donbas.
