# Artem Dmytruk

Artem Hennadiyovych Dmytruk (Ukrainian: Артем Геннадійович Дмитрук; born 28 June 1993) is a Ukrainian weightlifter, activist and politician, who currently serves as a People's Deputy of Ukraine from the 133rd electoral district since 2019.
Having been initially elected an independent candidate supported by Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People, he joined the party shortly thereafter, before defecting to Smart Politics in 2021 and later Restoration of Ukraine in 2022. Critics have lebelled Dmytruk as pro-Russian, which he has denied, pointing in particular to his organisation of a territorial defence unit following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, which he has condemned.
Prior to his political career, as a weightlifter, Dmytruk won the 2014 World Powerlifting Championship, and, in 2018, the silver medal at the Crosslifting World Cup.

## Early life

Artem Hennadiyovych Dmytruk was born on 28 June 1993 in the city of Koziatyn in central Ukraine. He graduated the National University Odesa Law Academy, specialising in jurisprudence. Dmytruk then worked worked various jobs as an entrepreneur, porter and bouncer. He was the owner of the Barbell Barbell Gym and "baza" fitness clubs.
Simultaneously becoming involved in activism, Dmytruk co-founded the "I'm an Odesan, and I don't care" non-governmental organisation, as well as becoming a member of the "Ilya Muromets" non-governmental organisation.

## Weightlifting career

Dmytruk has been a participant in several international weight-lifting championships. In addition to his 2014 win and 2018 result as a runner-up, he has also participated in sambo, mixed martial arts and boxing championships, receiving recognition from the Ukrainian government for his weight lifting prowess.

## Political career

Dmytruk ran in the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election as an independent candidate endorsed by Servant of the People in the 133rd electoral district, which encompasses his hometown of Odessa. He won the election with 32.66% of the vote, defeating his next-closest competitor, Viktor Baranskyi of Opposition Platform — For Life, who won 26.32% of the vote.
In the Verkhovna Rada, Dmytruk joined the Servant of the People faction. He also became a member of the Verkhovna Rada Law Enforcement Committee and the inter-factional associations South Ukraine and For Accelerated European Integration of Ukrainian Business.
The day of his accession to the Verkhovna Rada, he voted for the appointment of Oleksiy Honcharuk as Prime Minister of Ukraine. Shortly after voting, when questioned by Radio Liberty journalists, he did not name who he had voted in as Prime Minister, stirring criticism.
During the coronavirus pandemic in Ukraine, Dmytruk was skepitical of the vaccine, and was one of three People's Deputies to refuse a it, along with Yuriy Kamelchuk and Yelyzaveta Bohutska.
In 2020, Dmytruk got into a physical fight with fellow People's Deputy Serhiy Vlasenko of Batkivshchyna on the premises of the Verkhovna Rada building.
The same year, Dmytruk laid flowers in honour of 46 pro-Russian protesters who were killed by a militia in 2014 in Odessa, along with fellow Odesa MP Oleksiy Leonov. Dmytruk appeared in a 2021 documentary about the 2014 clashes made by Anatoly Shariy.
In November 2021, following the formation of what became his new party, Smart Politics, founded by former Verkhovna Rada Chairman Dmytro Razumkov, Dmytruk was expelled from Servant of the People. Only one People's Deputy, Oleksiy Leonov, did not vote in favour of his expulsion.
When asked, Dmytruk said he was not surprised by the procedure for his expulsion being initiated, saying that he "has a large number of conflicts with the party, both on voting and local issues in Odesa."
However, three months later, Dmytruk soon found himself expelled from Smart Politics after a fight in the Odesa City Council on 25 January 2022, in which Dmytruk was alleged to have injured three security guards. The fight occurred after Dmytruk allegedly forced his way into the City Council building with a group of supporters with the intention of disrupting a meeting regarding the hand-over of a land plot to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. Dmytruk had disputed the characterisation of the events as reported.
In May 2022, Dmytruk joined Restoration of Ukraine.
In August 2024, Dmytruk fled Ukraine, shortly after being the only deputy to speak on the floor of the Rada against a law that could ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, of which he is a subdeacon. He described a threat to his life due to political persecution. The Ukrainian government stated that he was illegally evading responsibility for charges that were filed against him for assault, referring to the years-old accusations. An extradition request was subsequently sent to the United Kingdom.