Decriminalizing pornography in Ukraine degrades moral values, especially for children, and it could be exploited by Russia, Head of National Police Ivan Vyhivskyi said in a recent interview.
In an interview with Ukrainsky Novini, Vyhivskyi was asked about his thoughts on tax evasion cases involving Ukrainian models on OnlyFans, an online subscription service favored by pornography creators.
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He responded by saying that the police are only concerned with the aspect of distribution of pornographic content under Article 301 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code, not tax evasion.
Later, when asked about his thoughts on the potential decriminalization of porn in Ukraine, Vyhivskyi said he opposes the idea personally due to “a negative impact on moral values.”
“I know that there is a bill on decriminalizing porn. I think that this is a very long process, but if we take the position of the National Police and other law enforcement agencies, then we do not support such an initiative,” said Vyhivskyi, referring to the draft law No. 12191 on the subject submitted in November 2024.
He said Ukraine registered almost 2,000 cases of child pornography, and he believed the situation could worsen if the bill is passed.
Russia can also exploit this to destabilize Ukraine, Vyhivskyi claimed.
“Now the war and the Russians are destabilizing the situation with various cyberattacks, hybrid attacks, so this may become an additional direction in which they will speculate.
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“This will also have a negative impact on moral values, in particular, children. We have traditions of intimate communication between people, and therefore, in my opinion, such legalization will have a negative result,” Vyhivskyi added.
What does the law say?
At present, filming and distributing pornographic content in Ukraine can lead to three to five years in prison.
By law, sending and receiving nude photos between private individuals technically constitutes a criminal offense.
However, with the latest bill that was supported by Verkhovna Rada’s Law Enforcement Committee, filming and distributing porn might be decriminalized except for the following cases:
- non-consensual porn (revenge porn, deepfake);
- extreme porn (violence, zoophilia, necrophilia);
- child pornography and distribution among children
The bill sought to keep the cases above illegal, with lawmakers intending to increase punishment for child pornography in particular, according to lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak who supported the bill.
The bill does not address prostitution, which remains illegal in Ukraine.
Kyiv Post explored the topic in detail in an August 2023 report.
OnlyFans in Ukraine
Danylo Hetmantsev, the head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy, said in a Dec. 18 Telegram update that 350 OnlyFans models in Ukraine have declared a combined income of Hr.305 million ($7 million) and Hr.59 million ($1.4 million) in taxes paid.
“This is very important money for the country in the war and we are grateful to the girls for their responsible position and contribution to the victory,” Hetmantsev said.
In September 2024, a Ukrainian court granted authorities access to the tax registry database of citizens registered on OnlyFans and receiving income from the platform, sparking criticism in some quarters.
Lawyer Lesia Mykhalenko criticized the move on Facebook, arguing that authorities were targeting models who were already paying taxes since the database came from Ukraine’s tax office. She claimed the move was an attempt to pressure the models.
Zheleznyak also criticized the move by saying it was “not OK to simultaneously demand taxes on porn and at the same time leave criminal liability for production” in his Dec. 18 Telegram update.
Hetmantsev also criticized the authorities’ hypocrisy in his Telegram update.
“It seems to me that the festival of hypocrisy, when society ‘morally condemns’ with one hand, and with the other takes money for the army, or when content creators are persecuted by its users, must be ended,” Hetmantsev said.
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