The head of the Zakarpattia Regional Military Administration (OVA) Viktor Mykyta came into the spotlight after it became known about his possible appointment to the post of deputy head of the President's Office Volodymyr Zelenskyi. Political scientist Oleksiy Kurpas expressed serious reservations about this personnel decision, pointing to numerous corruption schemes and dangerous connections of Nikita with pro-Putin Hungary.
"Is it normal for a person who actually depends on pro-Putin Hungary to work in an important position in the OP during the war? The answer is obvious - no," emphasizes Oleksiy Kurpas.
He adds that according to the media, many members of Nikita's family allegedly received Hungarian passports. These are, in particular, the current wife Victoria, daughter Anastasia, wife's brother Oleksandr Benedyk and ex-wife Lyudmila. And Nikita himself has an order from the anti-Ukrainian minister of foreign affairs of Hungary, Peter Sijarto.
"Then this Putin fan publicly praised the head of Zakarpattia OVA for working with local Hungarians. Moreover, a business (warehouses) is actively developing in Hungary, which, according to the media, is formally owned by front persons, but in reality by Nikita and the well-known smuggler, who is sanctioned by the NSDC, Valery Peresolyak," says Kurpas.
The expert also reminded Nikita of a scandalous statement a week before the start of a full-scale Russian invasion. Then, at the Unity Day celebration, the head of Transcarpathia said that "the people of Russia are our brothers."
"The question arises: does Bankova need a person with such a negative streak? Because it is unlikely that Russian citizens, smugglers and the Hungarian lobby from Nikita's close circle will help him make the right pro-Ukrainian decisions in the position of deputy head of the Office. I would also like to know if he still considers the Russians our brothers?" notes .
In his opinion, the environment of the new potential employee of the Office of the President Zelensky is no less interesting.
"According to investigative journalists, Nikita's adviser is a certain Pavlo Igorovich Kotyk, who has a Russian passport and a Russian individual tax number. This is information from Russian registers. Before the full-scale invasion, Mr. Kotyk did not hide his close ties with the Russian Federation: he published a photo on Red Square, and the employees of the Russian Okhran group of companies congratulated him on his birthday on social networks , Kurpas wrote.
He added that, according to information from various sources, Viktor Mykyta worked for almost 20 years in various positions in the SBU and was distinguished by his active "fight" against smuggling schemes at the customs.
"Because of this, he got the nickname "Nykyta - beads" among his colleagues. And we are not talking about jewelry here, but about minibuses from which cash was collected daily. In addition, the local media wrote that Mykyta was also involved in smuggling cigarettes to the EU and importing gray Apple equipment into Ukraine, the political scientist notes, adding that previously Mykyta was called the "watcher" of the entire Transcarpathian Customs, local journalists write.
