Telegram chat of protest coordinators supporting Fedorov deleted after administrator’s detention

The Telegram chat “Protest,” used to coordinate demonstrations in support of former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, was deleted after its administrator Vitaliy Kamka was detained and sent to the army.

This was reported by the human rights center ZMINA.

Kamka, known by the nickname Pavuk (Spider), was detained on August 7 in the Podilskyi district of Kyiv while riding a motorcycle on a sidewalk. After checking his documents, police stated that he was listed as a “serviceman who had gone absent without leave.”

The chat had around 770 members. On the evening of the same day, a message appeared in the chat under Kamka’s name stating that the protest participants were acting incorrectly and that he had allegedly decided to return to military service. Shortly afterward, the chat was deleted.

Kamka later wrote to one of the protest participants that he had not posted that message and had not deleted the chat. According to him, after his detention an investigator gained access to his Telegram account. One of the protest participants, Serhiy Motrenko, who had communicated regularly with Kamka, also stated that the published text was uncharacteristic of the activist’s manner of communication.

Police claim that Kamka voluntarily agreed to report to the Military Law Enforcement Service. Kamka himself said that he was taken to Bila Tserkva in handcuffs and was handcuffed to a bed at the local Military Law Enforcement Service office. He was later transferred to Cherkasy, where he is being held at one of the military units.

The protests against Fedorov’s dismissal began after he was not reinstated as defense minister when the new government was formed. The participants in the demonstrations are demanding that he be reappointed as head of the Ministry of Defense.