Medvedchuk, Tabachnyk, Pshonka and others on the list: traitors of Ukraine will be deprived of state awards

On November 22, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree enacting the National Security and Defense Council's decision to deprive traitors of state awards. The first list includes 34 people, including former government officials, MPs, prosecutors, artists, and Russian political, religious, and cultural figures.

All of them are deprived of state awards for life. This is stated on the website of the President's Office.

"With state awards, Ukraine thanks those who serve it, protect it, and do everything to make it survive, not those who went over to the enemy and help destroy our state," the president said.

According to the decree, the maximum set of sanctions – 21 types – is applied to the ten traitors. This includes not only the deprivation of state awards, but also the blocking of assets, the revocation of licenses and permits, and the complete cessation of trade operations.

Out of these ten, sanctions have been imposed on seven people for the first time. In particular, it concerns the former first deputy leader of the Party of Regions and head of the relevant faction, Oleksandr Yefremov. He was a recipient of the Order of Merit of the I-III degrees and the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise of the V degree.

Also, the former First Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin, who had the Order of Merit of the II-III degree and the title of Honored Lawyer of Ukraine.

Eight people who are already under other sanctions imposed by Ukraine were deprived of state awards. For example, former member of the Verkhovna Rada of the II-IV and IX convocations Viktor Medvedchuk. He was awarded the Order of Merit of the I-III degrees and the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise of the V degree, and was named Honored Lawyer of Ukraine.

The list also includes former Minister of Education and Science (2010-2014) Dmytro Tabachnyk (who was awarded the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise of the IV-V degrees and the title of "Honored Worker of Science and Technology") and former Prime Minister (2010-2014) Mykola Azarov (who was awarded the Order of Merit of the I-III degrees and the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise of the V degree, and also held the title of "Honored Economist of Ukraine").

The former Prosecutor General of Ukraine (2010-2014) Viktor Pshonka, who had the Order of Merit of the III degree, was also deprived of the state award. The same goes for former MP of the Verkhovna Rada of the III-IX convocations Andrii Derkach, who had the Order of Merit of the III degree.

The list also includes the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and former KGB agent Patriarch Kirill, who was awarded the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, first class.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, on November 20, members of the Verkhovna Rada adopted as a whole bill No. 11410, which is intended to lay down legal grounds for depriving Ukrainian citizens who popularize or propagandize the Russian Federation of state awards. 283 MPs voted in favor. The law was initiated by the president, who signed it on the evening of November 20.

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