Ex-Prez barred from leaving Ukraine

Kyiv, December 3

Former Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko was denied permission to leave Ukraine for a planned meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Ukraine’s security service said on Saturday.

The Former President had alleged on Friday that he had been turned away at the border despite previously receiving permission from Parliament to leave the country.

Under martial law, Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 years of age are not allowed to leave the country without special approval.

The 58-year-old said he had planned to meet with US House Speaker Mike Johnson, and the Polish parliament during his trip.

However, security officials said that Poroshenko had also agreed to meet Orban, who has previously praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and refused to support Kyiv’s bid for EU accession. In a statement on social media, they said such talks would make Poroshenko a “tool in the hands of the Russian special services.”

On Saturday evening, Orban’s spokesman said Hungary “does not wish to play any part in (President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s) internal political struggles,” without confirming or denying that a meeting had been planned between Poroshenko and the Hungarian leader.

Ukraine’s Parliament speaker on Sunday accused Poroshenko’s political party, the center-right European Solidarity, of having made false claims in the past that its lawmakers were being systematically prevented from travelling abroad. — AP