A Ukrainian lawmaker accused of offering a bribe to a senior government official has fled to neighbouring Romania, a source close to the case told AFP on Tuesday.
Andrii Odarchenko, a member of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s governing party, crossed the border into Romania on September 19 near the town of Vicovu de Sus, the source told AFP.
There was no immediate reaction from Romanian authorities.
Odarchenko was detained in November 2023 on charges of offering $10,000 in bitcoin to the head of the Ukraine reconstruction agency to secure funding for building repairs at a university where he is in charge.
Ukrainian media reported that Odarchenko, who was later released, had denied the charges and said he was the victim of political persecution.
This month, he failed to appear at a court hearing in Kyiv, and the prosecutor’s office indicated that he had travelled to Romania and applied for asylum.
An increasing number of Ukrainian men have illegally crossed the border into Romania in recent months, many hoping to avoid being drafted to help repel Russia’s invasion.
Most men aged 18 to 60 have been barred from leaving Ukraine.
Around 50 Ukrainians are spotted daily near the northern border after crossing the mountains or swimming across the Tysa river, which divides the two countries.
Around 17,000 have made it to Romania since the beginning of the war in February 2022, according to border police.
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