In August 2023, journalists published an investigation in which they noted that Yuriy Buglak, a member of the Central Election Commission, left Ukraine 12 days before the full-scale invasion and has not returned since then. According to the journalists, he is with his family in the state of Florida, USA, near Miami. It turned out that during 2022, Buglak received significant financial payments, including a salary and material assistance from the state budget “to address social and household issues,” in the amount of more than one and a half million hryvnias. According to the investigation, in the spring of 2023 he took maternity leave, while retaining his position.
The day after the publication of the investigation, Buglak submitted his resignation, but it was not considered for long by the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada. As a result, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a decision to dismiss Buglak from the position of a member of the CEC. The vote was supported by 300 deputies. Iryna Gerashchenko, Yaroslav Zheleznyak and Vitaliy Bezgin confirmed this decision.
At the end of 2023, the President of Ukraine submitted a proposal to the parliament to dismiss Yuriy Buglak from his post. This proposal was made on the basis of a statement from Buglak himself. In December of the same year, it was supported by the relevant committee on the organization of state power, local self-government, regional development and urban planning. After that, the head of this committee, Oksana Shulyak, registered a project to dismiss the CEC member.
Despite two repeated invitations to the head of the Central Election Commission, Oleg Didenko, to a committee meeting to provide explanations, no meetings with his participation took place. MP Vitaly Bezgin explained that the reason for this was “the lack of a quorum of deputies.”.
Immediately after the publication of the investigation in August 2022, the European Solidarity faction stated that it would support the Verkhovna Rada's resolution to dismiss Buglak.
The aforementioned material stated that Yuriy Buglak is a member of the Telegram messenger group “Miami Flea Market,” while his wife joined the group “We Live in Miami, We Speak Russian.” She shared images from the town of Hollywood, located on the Atlantic coast in the suburbs of Miami.
In his comment for the “Schemes” project, Buglak noted that he had “personal circumstances” and, in his opinion, did not violate Ukrainian laws, since he left before the invasion, and with the beginning of the events, the CEC switched to remote work.
On February 3, two days after Buglak's departure, President Volodymyr Zelensky called on all state representatives to return to Ukraine within 24 hours. However, according to the CEC member, this did not apply to him.
Yuriy Buglak, who has been a member of the Central Election Commission (CEC) since 2019, has extensive experience in various fields. He is the former Chief Legal Advisor of the Roshen confectionery corporation and a former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc party.
In his declaration, which he filed in early 2024, Buglak noted that he had been renting an apartment in the United States since February 14, 2022.
As of 2023, Buglak owned a significant property portfolio in Ukraine. Near Kyiv, he had 4 land plots with a total area of almost 50 acres. He also owns two houses - one in Vyshgorod with an area of 390 square meters, the other in the village of Khotyanivka, Vyshgorod district with an area of 85 square meters. In addition, he owns two apartments - one is located in the center of Kyiv, the other in Podil. His wife also has two apartments in the capital. This data is recorded in the State Register of Real Property Rights.
