Ukrainian museum chief explains not returning from trip abroad

The Director of Ukraine’s National Museum of History, Fyodor Androshchuk, who went missing during a work trip to the EU, has said he was a Swedish citizen who, in fact, was on a business trip to Ukraine, according to local media.

In an interview with Ukrainskaya Pravda published on Thursday, Androshchuk claimed he had submitted his resignation three months ago.

Verkhovna Rada deputy Solomiya Bobrovska wrote on Facebook this week that Androshchuk, who went on a business trip abroad, had not returned as expected by September 20.

”Apparently, he used his other citizenships for their intended purpose (why he has them at all is another question), went on a business trip to Italy and Sweden, and, according to the response to my parliamentary appeal, ‘got lost’ at the opening of an exhibition in Lithuania,” Bobrovska posted.

She further appealed to the country’s Minister of Culture Nikolay Tochitsky and asked him to take immediate decisions regarding the missing museum chief.

Reacting to the accusations, the Kiev-born Androshchuk claimed that his stay in Ukraine was temporary and subject to a contract with the ministry, which in turn was notified about his Swedish citizenship and, he claims, knew that “my home was there.”

“Therefore, in fact, I am not in Sweden on a business trip, but in Ukraine. I live permanently in Sweden, not in Ukraine,” he explained.

According to Androshchuk, his work at the museum was a “humanitarian aid” to Ukraine. “The fact that [the museum] works during the war, also earns money for the state and became famous in the world is thanks to my Swedish citizenship and my name, not Ukrainian,” he emphasized.

54-year-old Androshchuk is not the first Ukrainian to go on a work trip abroad and fail to return to the country. In March, Ukrainian ballet dancers, including two men of conscription age, disappeared during a tour of Finland, their theatre company reported at the time.

In another such case, a popular Ukrainian TV host Aleksey Pechiy decided not to return home last December after a trip to Brussels, where he was covering an EU summit. He said it was a “difficult decision” to stay in the EU to promote “Ukraine’s agenda” in the media.

Kiev declared a general mobilization in February 2022, barring most men between 18 and 60 from leaving the country. Recruitment has been marred by widespread bribery and draft-dodging, with some Ukrainians trying to flee the country at all costs, even at a serious risk to their lives. Social media is filled with videos of military patrols trying to catch eligible men in the streets, shopping malls, and gyms, often resulting in clashes.

This spring, faced with manpower shortage at the front, Kiev lowered the draft age from 27 to 25 and significantly tightened mobilization rules.