Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, said on Feb.14 that former President Petro Poroshenko had not submitted "any relevant documents" that would confirm his reported meetings with Western leaders at the Munich Security Conference, where he was allegedly not allowed to attend.
The ex-president said Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk did not approve the delegation of the Poroshenko-led European Solidarity party, citing alleged threats to his life abroad based on warnings by Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) chief Kyrylo Budanov.
"Claims by representatives of the European Solidarity party regarding their party's non-participation in the Munich Security Conference are manipulative," the Verkhovna Rada wrote in its statement on Facebook.
The parliament said that Stefanchuk had ordered to form a parliamentary delegation to participate in the conference, which included an equal number of lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parliamentary groups.
Martin Fornusek
According to the parliament's statement, lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko will represent the European Solidarity party at the conference.
Co-head of the European Solidarity party Iryna Herashchenko called the Verkhovna Rada's statement "false," claiming that all the documents for the business trip were submitted in advance.
The ex-president was previously barred from leaving Ukraine in December 2023. Even though he initially received official permission, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) requested it to be canceled due to Poroshenko's planned meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
He was also blocked from leaving Ukraine in May 2022 for a NATO summit but was eventually allowed to exit the country on his third try.
Poroshenko, who was elected president in 2014, lost his reelection bid in 2019 to President Volodymyr Zelensky in a bitter campaign that often included personal attacks.
The rivalry between the two did not subside after the election, and Poroshenko was investigated on charges of treason for allegedly doing business in Russian-occupied Donbas. Poroshenko claimed the investigation was politically motivated.
