Richards quietly leaves Queens for Ukraine

By Jacob Kaye

The Queens borough president has left the county – and the country.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards has embarked on a multi-day trip to Ukraine to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Babi Yar Massacre. The commemoration marks the Nazi killings of approximately 100,000 Jews, Ukarainians, Russisans and other ethnic groups at the Babi Yar ravine in Ukraine during World War II.

Richards, who was one of at least two elected officials from New York State to go on the trip, left on Saturday, Oct. 2, and returns on Thursday, Oct. 7. The commemoration event, which was attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, took place on Wednesday.

The trip was sponsored and paid for by the Assembly of Nationalities of Ukraine, a Kiev-based nonprofit organization aimed at bringing various Ukrainian ethnic groups together, according to its Facebook page. The Eagle was unable to identify the organization’s leadership or funding.

National nonprofit organization The Blue Card, which offers financial assistance to Holocaust survivors, served as a conduit, connecting Assembly of Nationalities of Ukraine with the invited guests, according to the borough president’s office.

The borough president’s office called the overseas travel a “mission trip,” and told the Eagle that Richards made the journey, in part, to show solidarity with Queens’ Ukrainian and Jewish population.

There are a little over 8,500 Ukrainian Americans living in Queens, making up less than 0.5 percent of the borough’s population, according to U.S. Census data.

Richards has made no explicit mention of the trip, save for a few posts to his personal social media accounts. The borough president retweeted a photo of himself alongside other New Yorkers on the trip, simply writing “Ukraine,” punctuated by the emojis of the American and Ukrainian flags.

State Senator James Skoufis, who represents most of Orange County and parts of Rockland and Ulster Counties, was also invited along for the trip, Skoufis’ office told the Eagle.

Also on the trip were candidates for City Council Marjorie Velázquez, who is running to represent District 13 in the Bronx, and Manhattan District 7 candidate Shaun Abreu, according to a social media post made by Velázquez.

Neither Velázquez nor Abreu responded to requests for comment.

The borough president’s office did not provide the Eagle with information about what parts of Richards’ trip was paid for by The Blue Card. Nor did they respond to requests for comment about how the borough president and the nonprofit were brought together.

Public officials in New York City are allowed to leave the country on official business trips paid for by a third party as long as the trip and the gift meet several requirements, according to the Conflict of Interest Board’s rules.

For a trip to be considered proper, it must be for city purposes and it must not be longer than the time it takes to complete the city purpose, among other rules.

The trip also must be approved by an agency head. In the case of the borough president’s trip, Richards himself is the agency head and can grant himself approval for the trip, according to the COIB’s rules.

Richards’ chief of staff, Franck Joseph, has represented the borough president during several events this week in the BP’s stead.

Joseph led a Queens Borough Board meeting and spoke for the BP at several rallies, including one against the LaGuardia AirTrain, a project Richards recently recanted his support for.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said The Blue Card Fund paid for Richards’ trip, as the Eagle was told by the Borough President’s office. The trip was paid for by the Assembly of Nationalities of Ukraine, the Borough President’s office told the Eagle after the publishing of this story.