Voloshyn graduated from
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv's Institute of International Relations in 2003. From 2005 to 2008 he had a journalistic career. Voloshyn, however, claims that he wrote the op-ed piece, emailing a version of the rough draft of the op-ed to colleague
Konstantin Kilimnik. As a result, in early December 2017, a court filing requested that the judge revoke Manafort's
bond agreement. On 20 June 2019, it was announced that Voloshyn would be on the electoral list of the
Opposition Platform — For life party for the
2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election. He was elected into the
Verkhovna Rada (parliament) in this election as number 30 on the party list. At the time Voloshyn worked for the Ukrainian TV channel
112 Ukraine. As a political pundit, he has made claims that there is a "growing volume of obvious violations of the rights of journalists, opposition, religious organizations, national minorities." He considers himself a defender of the
Russian language in Ukraine. On the
Russian military intervention in Ukraine, he has stated that "the Russian Federation is struggling to hold Ukraine in its sphere of influence, and not for its transformation into another province [of Russia]" and argues that "in Russia there was no overall goal to occupy Ukraine", that in general, "Ukraine is now governed by
Washington." In July 2020 Voloshyn was doused with a green liquid close to the
Verkhovna Rada building after claiming in parliament that Ukraine could not retake
sovereignty over Russian annexed Crimea given that (according to Voloshyn) Ukraine was "given entirely to external governance." On 20 January 2022, against the backdrop of
mounting tensions between Russia and Ukraine, the U.S. government imposed sanctions on Voloshyn along with three other Ukrainian nationals. The statement released by the
U.S. Department of the Treasury said, "Russia has directed
its intelligence services to recruit current and former Ukrainian government officials to prepare to take over the government of Ukraine and to control Ukraine’s critical infrastructure with an occupying Russian force. At the heart of this effort are
Taras Kozak (Kozak) and Oleh Voloshyn (Voloshyn), two current Ukrainian Members of Parliament from the party led by
Victor Medvedchuk (Medvedchuk), who is already subject to U.S. sanctions for his role in undermining Ukrainian sovereignty in 2014. Medvedchuk maintains close ties with the Kremlin, and also took part in directing these activities. [...] Voloshyn has worked with Russian actors to undermine Ukrainian government officials and advocate on behalf of Russia. Voloshyn also worked with U.S.-designated
Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian national with ties to Russian intelligence who was sanctioned for attempts to influence the U.S. 2020 presidential election, to coordinate passing on information to influence U.S. elections at the behest of Russia." He was sanctioned by Canada on 24 February 2022 and by the
UK government on 24 March 2022 in relation to the
Russo-Ukrainian War.
State treason accusation and loss of parliamentary seat Voloyshyn left Ukraine 10 days before the 24 February
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian newspaper Voloyshyn has
Russian citizenship. In April 2022 it was announced that Voloyshyn had joined the parliamentary faction
Platform for Life and Peace after the party he was elected in parliament for,
Opposition Platform — For Life, had been banned. Prosecutors claimed that Voloshyn had been acting on behalf of
Viktor Medvedchuk when he bribed Gill.
Searchlight reported at the time of Gill's connection that he and Voloshyn were connected to an NGO founded by alleged Russian spy Janusz Niedźwiecki which attempted to recruit several MEPs to advance Russia's agenda in Europe. Investigators in Poland described Voloshyn as "the main man" in the spy network run by Niedźwiecki. After Gill's conviction,
WhatsApp messages between him and Voloshyn were disclosed in which Voloshyn discussed paying bribes to another MEP, variously referred to as "David" and "D".
BBC News claimed that
David Coburn was the MEP mentioned in the WhatsApps, which Coburn denied. ==References==