Andrei Shchegel said that he received three subpoenas, but he was a “free man” and wanted to live in a “comfortable environment”, so his conscience did not torment him.
Ukrainian stand-up comedian Andriy Shchegel hid from the war in Turkey, where he went under the pretext of performing. The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy reacted to his act on the official website.
According to the press service, the comedian became part of a group of Ukrainian artists who were allowed to temporarily leave Ukraine on the condition of a mandatory return. The Ministry of Culture called Shchegel’s actions “inadmissible” in wartime conditions and called for tougher penalties for violating the rules for conscripts to leave the country.
“Currently, the ICIP has prepared and submitted for government approval a more stringent procedure for obtaining permits for temporary travel abroad of men of military age,” the agency writes. “The specific situation with the violation of the right to leave granted to him with the obligatory return to Ukraine and the evasion of the mobilization of the personality of Andriy Shchegel will be taken under the control of law enforcement officers.”
Earlier, in an interview with Roman Skrypin, published on YouTube on March 2, Andrei Shchegel admitted that he is now in Turkey. He stated that he had received three agendas from the “military commissars”: two in the city of Rakhiv, Transcarpathian region, and one in Nadvirna, Ivano-Frankivsk. He called himself a “free man” who no longer wants to be in Ukraine. Therefore, he turned to the Ministry of Culture, submitted an application and left the country under the pretext of performing abroad.
“I realized that I was uncomfortable, and that I could no longer, and found a way for myself to fuck and live in a comfortable psychological environment,” said the comedian.
Andrey Shchegel added that, according to the law, he can spend 90 days in Turkey, then he plans to go to Albania for two months, organize performances in Europe and Bali, and then live in other countries where they are allowed “without documents”. As the comedian assures, he is not tormented by pangs of conscience, since he is an egoist and knows how to prioritize, and besides, he does not value anything in Ukraine and does not risk his reputation, because he did not have time to earn it.
“I proceed from the fact that this is the choice of the guys – to die. I sincerely sympathize with everyone who is forced to defend Ukraine now, because he loves it, and I sincerely sympathize with Ukraine that it is experiencing the most terrible tragedy in its history and, perhaps, in the world now,” he commented.
In June 2022, Ukrainian comedian Alexander Sas got into a scandal because of jokes about women in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He stated that Ukrainian women would be sent to “throat troops”, where they could suck out the souls of enemies.
