Zelensky didn't violate quarantine, but checked work of cafe after restrictions were lifted - Ukraine's chief sanitary doctor
KYIV. June 4 (Interfax) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not breach quarantine in a cafe in the city of Khmelnytskiy on June 3, but was inspecting the work of such establishments, which may serve visitors starting on June 5, Ukraine's chief sanitary doctor Viktor Lyashko said.
The owners of the cafe declared their readiness to observe regulations in order to resume the work of such establishments on Wednesday, and the president and the people accompanying him walked in to see how it would work in practice, Lyashko told reporters in the Khmelnytskiy region on Thursday.
"We just walked in to see if everything was being observed there in the way that it's written in our rules. I sat nearby, I was monitoring. We were looking to see if everything would work. Because we're all nervous, the incidence dynamics aren't decreasing; they're stable. Therefore, the president is nervous, and I, as a sanitary doctor, am nervous. We're doing everything so that businesses can begin working, and doing everything to control the epidemiological situation. Therefore, don't view it as a breach of quarantine, but as an inspection," he said.
Zelensky has said he is ready to pay a fine if he has violated something. "I was invited, I walked in: we inspected everything there," Lyashko said.
During his visit to Khmelnytskiy on Wednesday, June 3, Zelensky and his delegation drank coffee in a local coffee shop, and coffee shops are, according to a Ukrainian government decree, not currently permitted to serve visitors indoors and won't be until at least June 5. The relevant photo was published by the presidential press service.
Ukrainian Deputy Interior Minister Anton Herashchenko said on June 4 that law enforcement officials are studying a possible quarantine violation by the president of Ukraine during a working visit to Khmelnytskiy. The president is facing a fine in the amount of 17,000 hryvni for quarantine violation.