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exercise his authority to dismiss the legislative body if it fails to produce results. “God forbid you will go down in history as the parliament that existed the shortest: one year. This is your trial period. It’s not so scary to dismiss parliament,” Zelensky said.
As his legislative priorities, Zelensky identified decentralization and Euro- integration; liberalizing the economy; creating a “powerful investment magnet for attracting foreign investment;” building a digital government in a SmartPhone; eliminating the hellish bureaucracy; eliminating corporate raids, monopoly, and contraband; and creating energy independence. “And the main thing, strengthening national security and defense, ending the war in Donbas, and returning Crimea annexed by the Russian Federation,” Zelensky said.
As expected, parliament approved the Cabinet of Ministers and the leadership of its committees. Ruslan Riaboshapka, who built his career in the Justice Ministry, was elected as the new prosecutor general. President Zelensky’s close and longtime confidante, Ivan Bakanov, was elected as head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
The key appointments were widely expected. Among those not covered, the foreign policy leaders (Kuleba as Euro-integration deputy prime minister and Vadym Prystayko as foreign minister) confirm that President Zelensky is fully committed to Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration. Normally, we wouldn’t pay much attention to who will lead the Cabinet’s work. But Dmytro Dubilet is the son of Oleksandr Dubilet, who was the board chairman of Privatbank when it was owned by billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky. (Dmytro Dubilet himself was a board member.) This further confirms Kolomoisky’s influence on President Zelensky in his new status as Ukraine’s top oligarch.
Andriy Zahorodniuk led volunteer efforts during the warfare in Donbas. Given that the defense minister position is more concentrated on procurement issues rather than military strategy, we view his appointment as a genuine attempt to weed out corruption in this sphere. It’s worth noting that Mykhaylo Radutskiy, the parliamentary health committee head, is the founder of the Borys medical network in Kyiv, which he sold in recent weeks to the Dobrobut medical network (controlled by Concorde Capital). Radutskiy also endorsed the appointment of Zoriana Skaletska as health minister. Former Concorde Capital Executive Director Andriy Gerus will lead the parliamentary energy and public maintenance committee.
Though criticized for “hogging” most of the committees (19 out of 23), it’s impressive to see The People’s Servant faction offer the heads of a few key parliamentary committees to both the pro-Western and pro-Russian opposition. Namely, Klympush-Tsintsadze of the European Solidarity party (led by former President Poroshenko) will lead the euro-integration committee, while Nestor Shufrych of the pro-Russian Opposition Platform committee will lead the freedom of speech committee.
Shufrych’s appointment has drawn much criticism, considering a member of his parliamentary faction, Viktor Medvedchuk, is not only a close confidante to Russian President Putin, but also controls two influential Ukrainian television networks. Moreover, freedom of speech is highly restricted in Russia, the country that Shufrych and his faction want to integrate with. Yet on the positive side, this gesture demonstrates Zelensky’s willingness to have dialogue with Russian-oriented Ukrainians and that he is not threatened by them. It also shows that he is confident enough in the effectiveness of his government’s
9 UKRAINE Country Report September 2019 www.intellinews.com