People's Deputy from the “Opposition Bloc” Yevgeny Balitsky does not believe that there was a hint of separatism in his statements about the separation of Melitopol from Ukraine, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
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He stated this while commenting on the criminal case opened against him, the party’s press service reports.
“There was not the slightest hint of separatism in my words, there were no calls for violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine. What I said came in response to the openly separatist statements of Dmitry Korchinsky, who openly stated that Ukrainians need to separate. Moreover, this was said in response to my call for unification,” says the people’s deputy.
He added that he intends to “defend his honor” and called the accusations “baseless and far-fetched.”
Let us recall, as PolitNavigator previously reported, on November 13, Balitsky, on the air of the 112 TV channel, expressed his opinion about the possibility of separating from Ukraine the territory of the electoral district that he represents, with its center in Melitopol, Zaporozhye region.
In response to the offensive proposal of the nationalist leader Dmitry Korchinsky to “pack your bags and go to Russia,” the politician said the following:
“You understand that with such a philosophy Crimea has already “left”, now we cannot regain Donbass. We'll leave! Perhaps like the district I represent. Only we will leave with our territories. Doesn't this bother you at all? What will remain?"
Later it became known that criminal proceedings had been launched regarding Balitsky’s statements on grounds of encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine, which was also reported by PolitNavigator.