Controversial pro-Kremlin politician Ilya Kyva’s April 26 defense of his Ph.D. thesis caused a scandal.
Kyva, one of 44 lawmakers from the pro-Kremlin Opposition Platform — For Life party, has the reputation of an unhinged and scandalous politician.
His public administration dissertation has been widely criticized as nonsensical and meaningless. He has also been accused of citing nonexistent scientific articles and forging a document upon which his thesis draws.
Responding to criticism, Kyva denied the accusations of wrongdoing but refused to respond to specific arguments against his dissertation. He also called on journalists to initiate a criminal case into the alleged forgery.
The scandal has attracted attention to pervasive corruption and incompetence in Ukraine’s scientific community.
Ukrainian politicians such as ex-President Viktor Yanukovych and his Prime Minister Mykola Azarov have faced accusations of paying other people to write their dissertations while being ignorant of the relevant subjects.
Yanukovych famously couldn’t even spell his “professor” title correctly when filling out registration documents to run for president.
Kyva’s defense of his Ph.D. thesis demonstrated a similar level of ignorance.
Controversial defense
The scholars present at Kyva’s defense unanimously approved his dissertation on April 26. The decision of whether to grant him a Ph.D. is subject to further review by the Education and Science Ministry.
If the ministry backs the scholars’ decision, Kyva will acquire a public administration degree, known in Ukraine as “Candidate of Science,” which is roughly equivalent to a Ph.D. in the West. Ukraine also has a higher degree called “Doctor of Science.”
Ukrainian journalists found inconsistencies in Kyva’s thesis that didn’t alert the scholars who approved it.
Kyva’s thesis cites several journal articles that he allegedly wrote. However, the page numbers in the publications in which Kyva’s articles were supposedly published do not actually exist, according to a report by the Bihus.Info investigative journalism project.
Another article by Kyva, published in English, was apparently Google translated, Bihus.Info reported, containing redundant phrases like “government and government” and “prevent and prevent.”
Kyva’s thesis also relies on meaningless phrases and cites no concrete facts or coherent arguments, according to Bihus.Info.
One passage reads: “The central Flemish public administration concept is used as a social regulator and a way to neutralize the crisis influence of non-acceptance of the stylistics of law enforcement bodies’ activities by civil society.”
The term “central Flemish public administration concept” does not exist, and Kyva has refused to explain what he meant by it.
One of the letters in support of Kyva’s dissertation was allegedly written by the All-Ukrainian Assembly of Doctors of Public Administration.
However, the signature of the official in the letter appears to be forged since it is different from her usual signatures, according to Bihus.Info. When Bihus.Info called the All-Ukrainian Assembly of Doctors of Public Administration, the signature was replaced with one from another official.
Kyva’s defense prompted a flash mob on social media, with users burning their dissertations to show that they are ashamed of them due to this event.
Kyva’s background
In 2013 Kyva, then a minor official in Poltava Oblast, was convicted for receiving a $1,500 bribe and was fined for it. He pled guilty to the crime.
In 2014 a court granted amnesty to Kyva because he had a document saying that he had been treated in a psychiatric asylum for a mental illness resulting from a brain injury.
Kyva was a top police official in 2015-2016. He was fired by then National Police chief Khatia Dekanoidze after he criticized veterans of the war with Russia in an interview.
In the same interview, he said that he used to pay for prostitutes but did not have time for that anymore.
Kyva became an aide to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, heading the ministry’s labor union.
Kyva has switched his ideological affiliation several times. In 2014, he was a leader at Right Sector, a Ukrainian nationalist group. This did not prevent him from becoming the leader of the Socialist Party of Ukraine in 2017 and a member of parliament with lawmaker Victor Medvedchuk’s pro-Kremlin Opposition Platform — For Life faction in 2019.
Kyva has also been criticized for sexist comments about Dekanoidze and has been involved in several fistfights, both in parliament and outside of it.
Editor’s Note: This report is part of the Investigative Hub project, within which the Kyiv Post monitors investigative reports in the Ukrainian media and brings them to the English-speaking audience, as well as produces original investigative stories. The project is supported by the National Endowment for Democracy.
