Illia Kyva

Illia Volodymyrovych Kyva (born 2 June 1977) is a Ukrainian politician. He worked as an official and policeman before entering politics, heading the Poltava chapter of the Right Sector party before taking the Socialist Party of Ukraine under his control in 2017 and serving as its leader from 2017 to 2019. In 2019, he was an unsuccessful presidential candidate, and he proceeded to be elected as a member of the Opposition Platform — For Life party in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's national parliament, between 2019 and the 15 March 2022, when the Verkhovna Rada deprived him of his mandate, following comments in support of Russia during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. During Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine, he effectively defected to Russia by asking Russian president Vladimir Putin for a Russian passport (Russian citizenship) and political asylum. Biography Until 2003, Kyva studied at the Oil and Gas Geological and Mechanical-Technical School in his native Poltava, specializing in maintenance. He also took courses to become a "pedagogue-psychologist". In 2005, he was hired to become the chief accountant of an industrial company.