Svyrydenko was to head Presidential Office and Budanov General Staff. Everything changed because Stefanishyna may face suspicion – source
Ukraine’s current Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko is resigning together with the entire Cabinet to continue her career as Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States. Her independent personnel appointments (Kachka, Sobolev and Berezhna) and support for the dismissal of Andriy Yermak from the Presidential Office accelerated Bankova’s decision to replace her before winter with a "more systematic" and compliant manager.
This is stated in the article "Mercury retrograde for the Cabinet: How suspicion against Stefanishyna changed Svyrydenko’s life and whether Fedorov will be dismissed" by Censor.NET journalist Tetiana Nikolaienko.
New ambassador to the United States
According to the outlet’s sources, Svyrydenko’s appointment to the United States resulted from an emergency revision of Bankova’s original plan, under which she was to head the Presidential Office and Kyrylo Budanov was to head the General Staff.
Sources described the claim that Zelenskyy had allegedly grown tired of being the Cabinet’s "babysitter" as far-fetched, since the two leaders appeared fully coordinated during their latest official appearances.
"My hypothesis is that, ahead of winter, they realised Yuliia would not be able to handle all this—neither the energy sector nor the ballistic missile threat—and decided to look for someone more systematic," a Censor.NET source among Servant of the People MPs said.
"In fact, the plan was different: Svyrydenko was supposed to move to the Presidential Office and Budanov to the General Staff. But everything was changed at the last minute because Stefanishyna may face a notice of suspicion," another source told the outlet.
During her tenure, Svyrydenko demonstrated unexpected political will: she refused to serve as a blind instrument of the Presidential Office, supported Yermak’s dismissal and formed her own ministerial core. At the same time, in purely economic matters, she unquestionably followed the populist course of Zelenskyy’s ideas, approving the "one-thousand-hryvnia" payments.
MPs from the single-party majority and the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada learned of the prime minister’s dismissal from official news feeds.
Stefanishyna and Svyrydenko
"At the time, it was said that one of the reasons for sending Stefanishyna to serve as ambassador was that she had a less-than-friendly relationship with Svyrydenko, and it was decided that the two women should be kept apart to avoid clashes.
"When Stefanishyna was sent there, she was already a subject in a criminal investigation into abuses involving a European grant and the embezzlement of funds back in 2013. That case is already in court. However, in recent years, journalists have published several more reports about Stefanishyna’s family and assets. One was produced by Ukrainska Pravda and concerned the selection of a company owned by Stefanishyna’s former husband in a tender to manage the Trade Unions Building (the NABU has also opened proceedings in that case). The other was produced by Hromadske journalists and concerned the use of an undeclared apartment. The latter will apparently form the basis for another notice of suspicion against the ambassador to the United States," the article states.
"Well, an ambassador facing two notices of suspicion would be too much, so they decided to make a swap," a source close to the Presidential Office said.
Background
- As previously reported, Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko will leave office due to a change in Ukraine’s political strategy.
- According to Zhelezniak, Svyrydenko will probably be appointed ambassador to the United States, while four candidates are being considered for prime minister.
- Vasylenko-Smahliuk reported that Servant of the People would discuss personnel matters on 14 July. The candidates for prime minister are Koretskyi, Shmyhal and Fedorov.
