Arestovych has been abroad for a long time. But how did he leave Ukraine?

Oleksiy Arestovych, a former advisor to President Zelensky's office and one of the main government spokesmen at the beginning of the war, has been abroad for six months. But it is still not known exactly how he left Ukraine

“I somehow left,” Arestovych answered journalist Anna Olitska’s question about how he managed to leave. According to him, the circumstances of crossing the border are a “state secret” that cannot be disclosed. At the same time, the ex-politician assured that he had not violated Ukrainian law.

He currently lives in New York and says he is “working with representatives of the American political establishment” to promote aid to Ukraine.

The NGL.Media publication published an article on the circumstances of Arestovych's departure on February 1. The media outlet, citing a source in the border service, reported that the former OP adviser allegedly left Ukraine on September 4, 2023, based on a letter from the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense.

“In total, since the Russian invasion in February 2022, in addition to the two cases mentioned, Arestovych has traveled abroad seven more times on other grounds - for example, based on decisions of the head of the State Border Service of Ukraine, as an advisor to the president's office, etc. All these trips lasted no longer than nine days,” the article says.

What the GUR and border guards say

The Main Intelligence Directorate and the Border Guard Service publicly denied the information released by journalists.

“Attention - fake! Information about the crossing of the border and departure from Ukraine of a person named Oleksiy Arestovych on September 4, 2023, allegedly based on a letter from the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, which was published by NGL.media, is not true,” the GUR said in a statement. The department denies providing letters or any other documents for travel abroad.

Border Guard spokesman Andriy Demchenko told BBC Ukraine that Arestovych did not leave Ukraine based on a letter from the Border Guard Service.

He noted that the border service usually does not disclose information about citizens crossing the border. However, given that NGL.media refers to “sources in the border service,” it decided to respond publicly to the situation with Arestovych.

However, the border guard service does not specify exactly how the former OP advisor left the country.

NGL.media published a document that allegedly is an extract from the border crossing database. It states that on September 4 and May 9, 2023, he left Ukraine “based on a letter from the State Border Guard Service,” and on March 22, by decision of the head of the border guard service. At the same time, the document states that on May 20, 2022, Arestovych left for Romania through the Orlivka checkpoint (Odesa region), and the reason given is “Advisor (that’s right – in Russian) to the President of Ukraine.” At that time, he was a freelance advisor to the president’s office, not the head of state.

Arestovych himself sarcastically commented on the investigation into the circumstances of his departure on his Facebook page.

He shared a link to the news about the “refutation of the GUR” and wrote “I live among aquarium fish,” adding 5 emojis.

It should be noted that the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Kirill Budanov, confirmed in an interview with Liga.Net in December 2022 that Arestovych served in the GUR.

“Once, as far as I remember, he served here. It was a long time ago, we need to look up the data. As far as I remember, yes,” said the head of military intelligence.

Who is Arestovich?

Oleksiy Arestovych, 48, was previously one of the most prominent members of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's . But after his dismissal in early 2023, he began to criticize the Ukrainian president's policies.

From Arestovych's numerous interviews, it is known that in the 90s he abandoned his studies at the Biology Faculty of Shevchenko University of Kyiv and became interested in theater - from 1993 to 2010 he played in the Black Square improvisation studio.

In 1998, according to him, he graduated from the Institute of Land Forces in Odessa, where he received a diploma as a military translator in English.

In 2005, he resigned from the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and then appeared in Ukrainian political life - as the deputy leader of the "Brotherhood" Dmytro Korchynsky and an opponent of the "Orange Revolution", as a result of which Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko came to power.

In 2008, Arestovich told dsnews in an interview that it was at this time that he resigned from the Department of Strategic Studies of the Ministry of Defense.

In 2005, together with Korchinsky, Arestovych took part in a press conference at the RIA Novosti agency in Moscow with the ideologist of Russian Eurasianism and imperialism, Alexander Dugin.

He later claimed that he was in Russia as an employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense.

After 2014, Arestovich began to gain popularity as a blogger commenting on military issues.

At the same time, he became the founder of the Apeiron school of thought.

According to Arestovych, in 2018-2019 he was also a contract soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, served in the 72nd Mechanized Brigade, and allegedly made “33 combat sorties” behind the front line in Donbas.

Arestovych's rapprochement with the new Ukrainian authorities took place in 2020.

In October 2020, Leonid Kravchuk appointed Oleksiy Arestovych as an information policy advisor and speaker of the Ukrainian delegation in the trilateral contact group, which the former president of Ukraine headed at the time. And in December, the head of the presidential office, Andriy Yermak, made him a freelance advisor.

In January 2023, Arestovych was dismissed from President Zelensky's office.

The resignation was, in particular, related to his unconfirmed statements regarding how the tragedy of a missile hitting a house in Dnipro occurred.