What We Know About Upcoming Personnel Changes in Ukraine Government

29 February 2020 18:21

Ukrainian MPs vote during a session on September 13, 2019.UNIAN

Some people will be joining [the government], some people will be dismissed, the head of the presidential Servant of the People faction explained.

The head of the presidential Servant of the People faction, David Arakhamia (also known as David Braun on Facebook), has announced that the Ukrainian parliament will be voting for "personnel changes" in the government on March 4.

"We want to strengthen the Cabinet of Ministers, to make it more efficient, more experienced," Arakhamia said during the February 28 airing of the Svoboda Slova ("Freedom of Speech") program on ICTV channel.

"Some people will be joining [the government], some people will be dismissed," he clarified.

Asked which names would be proposed for these personnel changes, Arakhamia said that he does not want to disclose this information as to not endanger these people.

However, Arakhamia specified that ex-politician and tycoon Serhiy Tigipko would not be on this list. On February 25, the Ukrainian English-language newspaper Kyiv Post reported that Tigipko was being considered for the role of the prime minister (currently held by Oleksiy Honcharuk) by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself. The Kyiv Post cited three anonymous sources in the government, however, failed to receive a confirmation of this information from either Zelenskyy's or Tigipko's press secretaries.

Tigipko is associated with Ukraine's ousted president Viktor Yanukovych (with whom he joined forces in the light of 2012 parliamentary elections and later served as the deputy to prime minister Mykola Azarov) and oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky with whom businessman Tigipko created Privatbank in 1992.

The details about personnel changes come after a statement made on the president's website initiating an extraordinary plenary meeting on March 4 in the parliament.

Later the parliament confirmed that such a session will take place at 4 p.m. (Kyiv time) on March 4. The meeting's agenda does include "on the Cabinet of Minister of Ukraine" as a separate issue but does not specify any details.

Servant of the People holds a single-party majority in the Ukrainian parliament, thanks to which they can approve most decisions (provided that the MPs within the faction agree on the decision).

Some members of the Cabinet of Ministers have already reacted to the news of the reshuffle. In that way, Prime Minister Honcharuk said he is used to constant reports about his possible dismissal. He added, however, that recently there were no such discussions held between him and the president.

Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said he is ready to leave his post should such decision be made.

"I understand how often ministers come and go. I have had this readiness [to leave] at all times," Prystaiko told Ukraina 24 news channel.

/By Maria Romanenko