Oleksii Arestovych

Oleksii Mykolaiovych Arestovych[lower-alpha 1][2] (Ukrainian: Олексій Миколайович Арестович; born 3 August 1975) is a former officer of the Chief Directorate of Intelligence, blogger, actor, political and military columnist, and propagandist.[3][4][5] He was a speaker of the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine. He worked as a Strategic Communications Advisor of the Office of the President of Ukraine from December 2020 to January 2023.

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming conventions, the patronymic is Mykolaiovych and the family name is Arestovych.

Oleksii Arestovych
Олексій Арестович
Arestovych in 2022
Advisor to the
Office of the President of Ukraine
In office
1 December 2020 – 17 January 2023[1]
PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy
Speaker of the
Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine
In office
28 October 2020 – 22 February 2022
Personal details
Born
Alexey Nikolaevich Arestovich

(1975-08-03) 3 August 1975
Dedoplistsqaro, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union
(now Georgia)
NationalityUkrainian
Political partyIndependent
Other political
affiliations		Brotherhood (2005–2010)
SpouseAnastasia Hrybanova
Childrendaughters Aelita and Veronika, son Alexander
Alma mater
OccupationUkraine's Presidential Office advisor, intelligence officer, actor, blogger, analyst, translator, politician
Awards
Military service
AllegianceUkrainian Armed Forces
Branch/service1) Chief Directorate of Intelligence
2) 72nd Mechanized Brigade
Years of service1994–2005, 2018–2019
RankLieutenant Colonel

Early life

Oleksii Arestovych was born in Dedoplistsqaro, Georgia.[6] His father was a Belarusian Pole and mother a Russian from Voronezh Oblast, Arestovych spent a significant part of his childhood in Belarus.[7][8] In 1992, he graduated from school No. 178 in Kyiv.

He entered the Faculty of Biology, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. In 1993, Arestovych began to perform in the modern Kyiv studio theatre Black Square Theater,[9] and left school.

He started conducting psychological seminars and trainings in 2000.[10] In 2003, he entered the author's school "Man among People" by psychologist Absalom Podvodny, from which he graduated in 2010.[11] He also studied theology at the Superior Institute of Religious Sciences of St. Thomas Aquinas.

He is an active blogger, with almost 200,000 followers on Facebook[12] and more than 1.2 million (April 2022) on YouTube. Arestovych was among the top 100 bloggers in Ukraine in a poll published by Fakty ICTV in 2019.[13]

Military career

Arestovych is a graduate of the Odesa Military Academy, he has a diploma of military translator. According to data that need further confirmation, from 1994 to 2005 he worked in the Chief Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine and is a reserve lieutenant colonel.[14][15][16][17]

Since 2014, he has been preparing combat units under the People's Reserve program,[18] organizer of a charity fund to provide psychological support to the military in the Anti-terrorist Operation Zone (2014–2017).

From September 2018 to September 2019, he served in the Joint Forces Operation near Kramatorsk in the 72nd Mechanized Brigade as an intelligence officer.[19]

Political career

In 2005, Arestovych joined the far-right Brotherhood political party, led by Dmytro Korchynskyi.[20][21] In that period, he repeatedly took part in conferences and events of the Eurasia Movement of Aleksandr Dugin, where he actively opposed the Orange Revolution.[22][23] Arestovych, as the Deputy Chairman of Korchynskyi's Brotherhood Party, appeared next to Dugin in Moscow and delivered a speech against the prospect of Ukraine's NATO and EU integration. Arestovych said that "the West cannot give Ukrainians the opportunity to preserve their culture, but instead will begin to reprivatize strategically important objects. Ukrainian factories will be taken over by Washington and Brussels."[24]

At the beginning of 2009, together with Korchynskyi, he organized the citizens' initiative "Get everyone out", the task of which was "to get the authorities to solve the main problems of small and medium-sized enterprises and the country's motor carriers".[25]

In June 2009, he was appointed deputy head of the Prymorskyi District Administration of the Odesa City Council,[26] but he was dismissed after three months at his own request.[27]

On 28 October 2020, Arestovych was appointed by Leonid Kravchuk as Adviser on Information Policy[28][29][30] and official speaker of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine at the Minsk talks on resolving the war in Donbas.[29][31][32] On 1 December 2020, the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak appointed Oleksiy Arestovych his freelance advisor on strategic communications in the field of national security and defense.[33][34] Kravchuk, the head of the Trilateral Contact Group, noted that Arestovych's candidacy was chosen because of his military experience and the presence of a vision and position on issues that are the subject of the Trilateral Contact Group.[35]

After the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Arestovych became known for his 2019 prediction on the inevitability of a war with Russia.[36] From the start of the invasion on 24 February 2022, he held daily briefings on the situation, as an adviser to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.[37][38] These videos garnered him a significant following.[39]

He also holds informal daily conversations covering the invasion on lawyer Mark Feygin's YouTube channel.[40]

Arestovych is an organizer of psychological seminars and trainings and a charity fund for psychological support to the military.[41]

In August 2022, Arestovych announced that he plans to run for the presidency of Ukraine if Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not run for a second term.[42][43]

On 14 January 2023, Arestovych made a comment that a Russian Kh-22 missile had destroyed a multi-story residential building in Dnipro after being hit by an Ukrainian air defense counterattack,[44] while the Ukrainian position is that Ukrainian forces did not try to intercept the missile.[45] On 16 January 2023 Russian President Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Arestovych's 14 January explanation about what happened in Dnipro was plausible and put the blame for the destruction on the Ukrainian side. Following the outrage regarding Arestovich's comments, he apologized and resigned on 17 January 2023.[46][1][44]

Awards

Notes
  1. Also spelled as Oleksiy.

References
  1. "President's office dismisses Arestovych from adviser position". Ukrainska Pravda. 17 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  2. ROMANIZATION OF UKRAINIAN. BGN/PCGN 2019 Agreement.
  3. "Zelenskyi's spokesperson: soldier, actor, psychologist, propagandist". openDemocracy. 26 April 2022.
  4. Lücking, Daniel. "Charmeur, Propagandist und Kämpfer (nd-aktuell.de)". Neues Deutschland (in German). Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  5. "Алексей Арестович ушел из команды Зеленского — и там, кажется, об этом не сожалеют". Meduza. 19 January 2023.
  6. #UKRAINERUSSIAWAR. The thousand faces of Zelenskiy’s military adviser: Oleksiy Nikolaevich Arestovich, news agc communication. Aprile 12, 2022
  7. «Мы ня хочам страляць у беларусаў», — дарадца кіраўніка Офісу Зяленскага Аляксей Арастовіч ["We don't want to shoot at Belarusians", says advisor to the Office of Zelensky, Oleksiy Arestovych] - Radio Svaboda, 2 March 2022
  8. Арестович LIVE № 10. Психологія, філософія // Alexey Arestovych. — 1:07:40—1:08:10. (in Russian)
  9. "Black Square (Черный Квадрат)". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
  10. "Арестович Алексей - Тренинги и семинары". www.trn.ua. Archived from the original on 13 September 2013.
  11. "Увернуться от укуса кобры — DSnews.ua". www.dsnews.ua (in Russian). 25 July 2008. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  12. Про роботу в ТКГ, Зеленського і «таємниці, які нікому не розказував»: Олексій Арестович у «Рандеву»
  13. "Факти ICTV запускають голосування ТОП-100 блогерів України 2019". ФАКТИ ICTV (in Ukrainian). 6 September 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  14. "Новий спікер української делегації у ТКГ: Хто такий Олексій Арестович і що про нього відомо". Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
  15. Спікером української делегації з питань Донбасу став Арестович
  16. Олексій Арестович (речник ТКГ) у Рандеву з Яніною Соколовою, Ютуб, 21 листопада 2020
  17. "Арестовичу присвоили звание подполковника". www.unian.net (in Russian). Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  18. Як «янголи Тайри» рятують життя на передовій: розповідь легендарного парамедика
  19. ""Є свідки": Арестович заявив про 33 свої бойові виходи у зоні ООС, але розкрити подробиці відмовився". nv.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  20. Korchynsky, Dmytro (18 February 2005). "Manifesto of the Orthodox Revolution". Mesogaia - Sarmatia. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021.
  21. Umland, Andreas (15 March 2016). "Добровольческие вооружённые формирования и радикальный национализм в послемайданной Украине". Politkrytyka (in Ukrainian).
  22. "ЕВРАЗИЯ - информационно-аналитический портал". Evrazia.org. 17 February 2005.
  23. "Одна днепровская купель". Rusk.ru. 18 February 2005. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021.
  24. "Арестович прокомментировал совместное фото с Дугиным".
  25. "Общественное движение "Геть усiх" в феврале проведет акции гражданского неповиновения в Сумах, Одессе и Киеве". Interfax-Ukraine. 12 February 2009. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021.
  26. "Замглавы Приморской райадминистрации Одессы стал человек с говорящей фамилией". Timer-Odessa. 4 June 2009. Archived from the original on 7 April 2022.
  27. "Order of the Odesa Mayor No. 1146/K-01". omr.gov.ua. 8 September 2009. Archived from the original on 3 March 2022.
  28. Арестовича призначили радником делегації у ТКГ з інформаційної політики
  29. Арестович заявив, що його призначили радником української делегації в ТКГ з інформполітики
  30. Prisyazhnyuk, Vladislava (28 October 2020). "Радником делегації з інформаційної політики в ТКГ призначили Арестовича". Crimea.suspilne.media. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  31. "Арестович став офіційним речником української делегації в ТКГ".
  32. Речником української делегації в ТКГ призначили Олексія Арестовича
  33. Єрмак призначив Арестовича своїм позаштатним радником з питань стратегічних комунікацій у сфері оборони
  34. "Єрмак призначив Арестовича своїм позаштатним радником". Pravda.com.ua. 28 October 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  35. Кравчук о назначении Арестовича: «Я не знаю, кто первый сказал А, но знаю, что никто не возражал»
  36. "Oleksiy Arestovych and his prediction of Russian aggression (2019) - EN subtitles". YouTube.
  37. "Servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other law enforcement agencies do not yield to the Russian troops and oppose them - Adviser to the Head of the Office of the President". president.gov.ua. Office of the President of Ukraine. 24 February 2022.
  38. "Russia-Ukraine fail to reach deal on cease-fire; UN says civilian deaths are climbing". cnbc.com. CNBC. 10 March 2022.
  39. "LGBT People Demand the Release of Arestovich for His Homophobic Remarks. Video". Tablo ID (in Ukrainian). 21 June 2022.
  40. "Feygin Live - Youtube Channel". YouTube.com. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  41. Справа Шеремета та зустріч Зеленського з Путіним — Прогнози Арестовича
  42. Новости, Р. И. А. (11 August 2022). "Арестович заявил о намерении идти в президенты Украины". РИА Новости (in Russian). Retrieved 11 August 2022.
  43. "Арестович заявил о готовности баллотироваться в президенты Украины (видео)". ФОКУС (in Russian). 11 August 2022. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
  44. "Arestovich apologized for the words about the explosion in Dnieper through the Ukrainian air defense, but dismissed the apology". Ukrainian News Agency (in Ukrainian). 15 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  45. "The Prosecutor General's Office named the unit of the Russian Federation, which launched a rocket at home in Dnipro". Ukrainska Pravda (in Ukrainian). 15 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  46. "Арестович звільняється з ОП після скандального коментаря про ракету у Дніпрі". ipress.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 17 January 2023.
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