MP Surkis has a permanent residence permit in Germany: the Verkhovna Rada considers it unacceptable
15 April 2024 10:01
Ukrainian MP Hryhoriy Surkis, who was elected from the now-banned OPFL, had a permanent residence permit in Germany as of 2023. Journalists of the Komersant ukrainskyi 
learned this from the MP’s declaration.
Residence permit in Germany
The MP had such a residence permit in 2022 and 2021.
According to open sources, permission to obtain a residence permit in Germany is granted for a number of reasons, including study or work. The residence permit is valid for 6 months to 3 years, so it is likely that during the full-scale invasion Surkis could have travelled to extend the document. If not, his residence permit should have been cancelled in 2024.
According to Serhiy Yevtushko, MP, first deputy chairman of the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Deputy Ethics and Organisation of Work of the Verkhovna Rada, it is unacceptable for a current MP to hold a permanent residence permit abroad.
“An MP should have a Ukrainian passport, not a residence permit in other countries! It is not normal for a sitting MP to have a residence permit in another country. Moreover, MPs who intend to run for parliament must, according to the Constitution, reside in Ukraine for 5 years. If they live in other countries, they are no longer constitutionally eligible to be an MP,”
– yevtushok said.
Surkis’ activities in the Verkhovna Rada
Having studied the activities of Hryhoriy Surkis as an MP, it can be stated that according to the official portal of the Verkhovna Rada, Surkis last submitted a draft law in December 2021.
In addition, Surkis is a regular participant in anti-ratings for the number of missed meetings in the Verkhovna Rada and the number of ignored votes.
At the same time, in 2023, he received almost half a million hryvnias in salary from the VRU.
Ban on special trips
In August 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs revoked the diplomatic passports of 225 MPs, including Hryhoriy Surkis. This was President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s response to the fact that MPs were “travelling abroad for nothing in time of war”.
Hryhoriy Surkis himself was a direct participant in the “diplomatic and passport” scandal on the eve of the President’s decision. In May 2022, according to UP, the MP used a diplomatic passport when crossing the border to avoid border inspections.
Even earlier, at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, brothers Hryhoriy and Ihor Surkis travelled abroad with their male relatives, who were subject to restrictions on travelling abroad due to general mobilisation. At the same time, as UP clarified, the Surkises declared more than $17 million through Hungarian customs officers, but did not inform Ukrainian customs officers.
In response to the incident, the State Bureau of Investigation opened criminal cases against the customs officers who released the Surkis and the passengers of their car in violation of the law. However, nothing is known about the outcome of these proceedings to date.
Surkis’ declaration for 2023
Despite owning 5 apartments in Kyiv and land plots, in 2022, the MP also entered into a lease agreement for an unknown type of property, which, according to Surkis’ declaration, belongs to the Dynamo Kyiv football club and is owned by his brother, Ihor Surkis. The year before, in 2021, the MP rented a 441 m2 apartment in the Monte Carlo apartments in Monaco.
Hryhoriy Surkis is also a great art lover, at least he has amassed a considerable collection: he has tapestries, sculptures, and paintings by both Western and domestic masters. Also, according to the declaration, the MP collects porcelain plates, cutlery, vases, crockery, paired candelabra, furniture sets, lamps, chandeliers, watches, desks, caskets, and even has an Arabian Warrior sculpture dating back to the late nineteenth century.
By the way, this is probably Surkis’s favourite period, as almost all of the items in his collection listed above date from the nineteenth century.
But not only antiques. The people’s deputy also likes modern things, in particular, he has 11 Rolex watches, 2 Richard Mille watches and 8 Patek watches in his collection.
Among the cars, Hryhoriy Surkis prefers Rolls-Royce, of which he owns two, and Mercedes – he owns one and leased the other. The MP also has the right to use a Land Cruiser, which belongs to the Dynamo Kyiv football club. In addition to this car, Surkis also rented another Mercedes-Benz from Dynamo Kyiv, and since 2023 he has been renting a Land Rover of the same year of manufacture.
In 2023, Hryhoriy Surkis received almost half a million hryvnias in salary as a Member of Parliament, more than 6 million hryvnias in payments after his dismissal from UEFA (Union of European Football Associations), more than a million hryvnias in income from the alienation of movable property, more than a million hryvnias in interest from the Bank of Monaco, more than half a million hryvnias from the Ukrainian Accent Bank and 3.6 million hryvnias from Universal Bank. In total, Surkis’ total income for 2023 was UAH 13.57 million.
Last year, Surkis kept UAH 63.1 million and EUR 377 thousand in hisbank accounts, and USD 2.3 million, UAH 1.85 million, EUR 75 thousand and GBP 46 thousand in cash.
Also, according to the MP’s declaration, he lent UAH 112.5 million to the owner of the Dynamo football club, his brother Ihor Surkis.
Author: Alyona Kaplina
