Ukraine bans officials and lawmakers from travelling abroad
During the war with Russia, the Ukrainian government has prohibited senior public servants and lawmakers, including women, from traveling abroad.
Andriy Demchenko, spokesman for Ukraine's border guard service, told AFP on Monday that the measure was approved last week.
"They can only leave as part of a work mission now," he explained.
Ukrainian men of fighting age were ordered to remain in the country after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops there on February 24, last year, with a few exceptions.
According to Demchenko, senior officials will be allowed to travel abroad only to visit their children, for medical treatment, or following the death of a loved one.
The ban applies to both female civil servants and local deputies.
Ukrainian lawmaker Iryna Gerashchenko condemned the "populist decision," pointing out that approximately 15,000 local deputies were women, with some serving as volunteers.
"Initially, the authorities encouraged everyone who could to leave for the winter with their children; now, they are not permitted to leave," she wrote on Facebook.
"The authorities continue to take rash actions that have nothing to do with combating abuses."
The measure was enacted after several officials were accused of taking foreign vacations, including Ukraine's deputy prosecutor Oleksiy Symonenko, who visited Marbella, a popular Spanish resort.
Following a series of corruption allegations, Symonenko was among the officials who resigned last week in Ukraine's biggest political shakeup.
Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was reported to have spent a vacation in a luxury villa in the United Arab Emirates by an influential media outlet on Friday.
Leave A Comment