The Ukrainian Union of Patriots Ukrop, a new political party started by allies of the billionaire former Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Igor Kolomoisky, has been accused of stealing a drawing by an independent artist for its logo.
However, a settlement seems to have been reached as
quickly as the scandal itself arose.
The logo features a dill sprig drawing by Ukrainian
freelance artist Andriy Yermolenko, who originally designed it in 2014 as a
symbol for a Ukrainian volunteer battalion.
Yermolenko discovered that it had been used for the
party’s logo when parliament member and one of Ukrop’s founders, Andriy
Denysenko, posted a photo of the party’s banner on Facebook on June 17.
Outraged that his design had been stolen, the artist
promised to go to court.
“In another country I would be very rich now,” he wrote
before the settlement. “And in Ukraine I feel like a fool who was robbed. I
created an emblem for our soldiers, not for some parties I don’t even trust!”
But by the next day, Ukrop’s leader, Gennady Korban,
wrote on Facebook that the problem with the logo had been solved.
“We made a deal,” he told Kyiv Post, refusing to
provide more details.
