Artem Dmytruk

Artem Hennadiyovych Dmytruk (; 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 changing affiliation to Smart Politics in 2021 and later Restoration of Ukraine in 2022. Critics have labelled Dmytruk pro-Russian, which he has denied, pointing in particular to his organisation of a territorial defence unit following the Russian invasion of Ukraine; he has condemned the invasion. 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 in 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 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.

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.

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."

Three months later, Dmytruk was himself expelled from Smart Politics after the fight in the Odesa City Council on 25 January 2022.

In May 2022, Dmytruk joined Restoration of Ukraine.

Extradition request and rejection In August 2024, Dmytruk fled Ukraine. His departure came soon affecting the status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), of which he is a subdeacon. The law prohibits Ukrainian church organisations from maintaining ties with the Russian Orthodox Church; it could restrict, or effectively ban, UOC-MP communities if affiliation, as defined by government-appointed inspectors, to the Russian church is found. It also coincided with charges being filed against him for allegedly assaulting, in two separate incidents, a soldier and a law enforcement officer. Dmytruk described his treatment as political persecution. He argued that the timing of the charges, relating to allegations up to three-years-old, was retribution for his support of the UOC-MP. The Ukrainian government stated that he was illegally evading responsibility for the charges filed against him in 2024 for assault, arising from incidents in 2021 and 2023.

An extradition request was subsequently sent to the United Kingdom, where media correctly reported he was located, after which he was briefly detained before being released on bail. On 4 March 2026, the Westminster Magistrates' Court formally denied the Ukrainian government's extradition request, finding that it would breach Dmytruk's rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.