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Has the ‘duel’ between Arestovych and Nezhynskyi Hurok been canceled forever? Trilateral Contact Group spokesperson’s comment
Vladislava Didenko
Yermak’s adviser and spokesperson of the Trilateral Contact Group Oleksii Arestovych clashed on social networks with Internet troll Nezhynskyi Hurok (‘Nizhyn Cucumber’), after which he called the latter for a ‘conversation’. The ‘conversation’, however, has not happened and is not planned in the near future.
Monday, 5 July 2021, 18:39

Bukvy talked about the situation with Oleksii Arestovych.

The scandal about the meeting of the TCG spokesperson Oleksii Arestovych with the anonymous blogger Nezhynskyi Hurok gradually calms down. Oleksii Arestovych has postponed the meeting, but has not abandoned the idea completely.

According to Arestovych, it was not entirely his personal choice and he was ‘made to understand that this should not be done’.

Arestovych is not going to cancel the meeting completely, but he is postponing it until he stops being an official.

It is difficult to imagine a situation when the spokesperson of the TCG, a professional communicator and adviser to the head of the President’s Office calls an anonymous Internet person to the duel. The situation is unusual, outrageous and interesting. Bukvy already inquired about the motives of Nezhynskyi Hurok.

We talked with Arestovych about his reasons and asked whether he was not worried about reputational consequences.

‘I have little interest in ‘reputational losses’. The reason is simple: it is not easy to make a psychological transition from an individual to an official’, he says.

Arestovych started work for the TCG as a speaker and information policy advisor in October 2020, and became Yermak’s advisor in December of the same year.

Oleksii Arestovych was aware that the meeting could have legal consequences. That is why he wanted to choose a quiet place on Bankova Street to ‘communicate’ without cameras and witnesses.

Such a format of the meeting, according to Arestovych, is not something unique for him, ‘It was a desire to come alone and talk to them all. I have had such ‘conversations’ many times in my life’.

Nezhynskyi Hurok himself did not specify the format of the meeting: whether it would be an intellectual conversation or a physical conflict. Arestovych was the first to speak about ‘beating’.

The meeting has not taken place so far, and this is probably the best possible result.

A top official who calls an Internet user into a fight causes a reputational loss for Ukraine. We have what we have.

Tags: Oleksii Arestovych