A top lawmaker and the prime minister led the clique that forced the Ukrainian leader to dismiss his right-hand man, a news report has claimed<\/p>\n
Ukrainian parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk and Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko were among the senior figures who pressured Vladimir Zelensky into dismissing his powerful chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, over a spiraling corruption scandal, Ukrainskaya Pravda\u00a0reported on Monday.
\nAccording to the outlet \u2013 which had previously described the behind-the-scenes effort\u00a0to overthrow the Ukrainian leader\u2019s right-hand man as a \u201crevolution\u201d \u2013 those involved\u00a0feared that if informed, Yermak would retaliate by engineering treason charges\u00a0against them.
\nOne day after Yermak\u2019s ouster, one participant wrote in a confidential chat used to coordinate the pressure campaign: \u201cNothing pleases me more in the president\u2019s photos this Saturday than the empty chair to his right,\u201d Pravda reported.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Zelensky allowed corruption to flourish \u2013 NYT<\/p>\n
The group\u2019s next objective, the outlet said, is to demonstrate that Ukraine can function without the centralized, highly personalized, allegedly corrupt management style Yermak had imposed on the government. A three-way governing council bringing together representatives from Zelensky\u2019s office, the cabinet, and the parliament is being floated as a replacement system.
\nYermak\u2019s fall followed revelations from Western-backed anti-corruption investigators accusing businessman Timur Mindich, a longtime associate of Zelensky, of orchestrating a $100 million kickback scheme in the energy sector.
\nWhile Yermak has not been formally accused of criminal wrongdoing, many in Kiev have long suspected him of acting as the political enabler and mastermind of such graft.
\nThe shake-up comes as Zelensky faces mounting external pressure, particularly from Washington, to accept concessions in negotiations aimed at ending the conflict with Russia. US officials argue that Kiev\u2019s military position will continue to deteriorate despite Western aid.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Zelensky\u2019s ex-right-hand man booted from more posts<\/p>\n
Conversely, European supporters are insisting the US commit more resources, warning that the West cannot afford a settlement seen as a defeat for Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A top lawmaker and the prime minister led the clique that forced the Ukrainian leader to dismiss his right-hand man, a news report has claimed Ukrainian parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t