Verkhovna Rada did not strip Potap of the title 'Honored Artist of Ukraine': only 198 deputies voted for the petition

On September 18, 2026, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine considered a parliamentary petition to strip the singer and producer Alexey Potapenko, known by his stage name Potap, of the state title 'Honored Artist of Ukraine.' As a result of the vote, 198 deputies voted in favor of the document, which proved insufficient for its adoption. Thus, the parliamentary decision to strip the title was not adopted, and Potapenko retains the title awarded to him in June 2020.

Where the initiative came from: Kateryna Taran's petition

The trigger for the parliamentary consideration was an electronic petition registered on the official website of the president on August 28, 2026. The author of the petition was the singer and public figure Kateryna Taran. In the text of the petition, she asserted that Potapenko's public activity is inconsistent with the status of a person honored by the state. Among the key complaints were the popularization of the Russian cultural environment, public interaction with representatives of Russia, as well as joint media content with Russian citizens and figures of the Russian show business. Separately, Taran pointed to Potapenko's statements and actions regarding the Ukrainian language, which, in her view, could be perceived as devaluing or mocking the state language. It should be emphasized: these formulations are the petition author's argumentation, not a fact established by the parliament or a court. The petition gathered the required 25,000 signatures, after which the status 'Under Consideration' was recorded on the president's website.

Why 198 votes are not enough

To adopt a parliamentary petition to the president demanding the stripping of a citizen's state award, a qualified majority is required — at least 226 votes (an absolute majority of the Rada's constitutional composition). The 198 'in favor' votes mean that a significant portion of deputies, including from factions that traditionally support a hardline position toward individuals accused of collaboration or pro-Ukrainian disloyalty, did not back the document. The reasons for this distribution of votes are not disclosed in open sources; however, the very fact of the petition's failure indicates that there is no consensus within the parliament on the question of applying precisely this mechanism to Potapenko.

A parliamentary vote is not the same as stripping the title: legal context

It is critically important to understand that even if the petition had been adopted, the Rada would not have automatically stripped Potapenko of the title. Ukrainian legislation provides for separate procedures. In November 2024, Law No. 4074-IX came into force, which substantially changed the rules for stripping state awards. Under this law, stripping is possible on the basis of a guilty court verdict in the prescribed cases, or upon the application of a sanction of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) brought into effect by a presidential decree. Among the grounds for sanctions are explicitly listed actions that popularize or promote the aggressor state or shape a positive image of it. Thus, the path to actually stripping Potapenko of the title lies not through a Rada vote, but through a judicial or NSDC procedural decision.

Broader context: the 'Myrotvorets' database and public discourse

The question surrounding Potapenko's public activity after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine remains a subject of sustained public discourse. His stay outside the country and his media activity have repeatedly become objects of criticism. Previously, as reported by the Ukrainian media project Styler (RBC-Ukraine), Potap, together with the Kamenetskyi family, was entered into the 'Myrotvorets' database — an organization that maintains a registry of individuals who, in its assessment, are banned from entering Ukraine. Inclusion in this database is not a legal verdict, but it forms an additional public context in which any parliamentary initiatives related to Potapenko are considered.

What comes next

The failure of the petition in the Rada does not finally close the question. The petition formally remains in the 'Under Consideration' status, and Law No. 4074-IX provides alternative mechanisms — from an appeal to the NSDC to a court proceeding. Potapenko's public activity and the reaction to it in Ukrainian society will likely continue to determine whether the question of his state title will return to the agenda in the near term.