You're reading: Climber wanted in Russia receives gun from Ukraine Interior Minister

Ukrainian extreme climber Grygoriy, who is better known by his pseudonym "Mustang Wanted" or simply "Mustang" was awarded with a personalized pistol for his exploit of painting a half of a yellow star atop a building in Moscow blue to represent the colors of the Ukrainian flag.

The act took place on Aug. 20 and infuriated Russian authorities as it occurred amid a very tense period in the two countries’ history. Russian police claim Grygoriy’s real name is Pavlo Ushevets, and they have declared him wanted and sent an inquiry to Ukraine’s police.

In response, Ukraine’s Interior Minister Avakov invited Grygoriy to his office and presented him with a handgun engraved with Grygoriy’s name. He then posted a photo of himself with Grygoriy, holding his new gun, to his Facebook timeline. Avakov’s advisor Anton Herashchenko posted a similar photo.

Grygoriy posted a selfie he’s taken while painting a star in Moscow to prove it was him who did it.

“Russian police, don’t waste your time sending us letters about Mustang. Just guard the color of Kremlin’s stars,” Avakov wrote under a photo.

Grygoriy, who revealed in an interview to Kyiv Post in 2013 that he was detained by police numerous times, smiles happily in the photo as the head of Ukraine’s police hugs his shoulder.

Interior Minister’s advisor Anton Herashchenko poses with Mustang and his new gun.

In his irony-soaked post, Avakov adds that Mustang now is “armed and very dangerous.” The post with a photo collected over 9,000 likes within the first hour.

Avakov wasn’t the first politician to meet Grygoriy after his patriotic move. On Sept. 16, Lviv mayor Andriy Sadoviy shook his hand and presented him a Lviv coat of arms as a souvenir.

Shortly before Avakov took notice of Grygoriy, the extreme climber sold one of the sneakers he was wearing while painting the star in Moscow at a charity auction for Hr 150,000. The buyer was Ukrainian businessman Vyacheslav Konstantinovsky, famous for joining the fighting in Donbass on the side of Ukrainian army and selling his Rolls Royce to cover the expenses of his squad.

Grygoriy revealed that he planned to send the money Konstantinovsky paid him to the four parachuters who were arrested and accused of painting the star before Grygoriy confessed it was his deed. Even though the police declared Grygoriy wanted for “hooliganism” of painting the star, the four arrested people, two women and two men, remain in custody in Russia.

Kyiv Post lifestyle editor Olga Rudenko can be reached at [email protected].