Oleksiy Kuznetsov, a member of parliament from the Servant of the People party, has found himself at the center of a high-profile scandal. Despite his status as an IDP from Luhansk Oblast and receiving 1.3 million hryvnias in compensation from the state for renting housing in Kyiv, his family is building a country estate worth over 400 thousand dollars.
In 2019, after being elected to the Verkhovna Rada, Kuznetsov applied for state assistance as an IDP. His wife, Alina Kuznetsova, who also receives benefits, simultaneously purchased a plot of land with an unfinished house. The transaction cost almost 2.8 million hryvnias.
Interestingly, a few days before the purchase, the woman borrowed 3.2 million hryvnias from Maria Kobets, of which she returned only 500 thousand. The rest of the money, as well as the family's source of income, raise many questions.
Over the past four years, the Kuznetsov family has invested heavily in renovating and decorating the estate. The house has not yet been officially put into operation, but its market value already exceeds $400,000.
At the same time, the People's Deputy continued to rent an apartment on Obolonskaya Embankment. The owner of the 100-meter apartment rented it out for 20 thousand hryvnias per month, without even raising the price, because "she felt sorry for the family that lost everything in Severodonetsk."
The housing scandal only intensified after Kuznetsov was detained by the NABU and SAPO. He is accused of embezzling about $80,000 in schemes to purchase drones and electronic warfare equipment for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The People's Deputy is currently in pretrial detention, and the court set bail at 8 million hryvnias.
History shows how refugee status and government benefits can be combined with the construction of luxurious estates and corrupt dealings, even in times of war.
