Business aquarium: what is behind personnel appointments in the Cabinet of Ministers

Oleg Gavrysh

Deputy Chief Editor, The Page

As usual, I want to inform you of unofficial news and versions that relate to well-known and hidden events in the Ukrainian corporate world, in the business environment, in our aquarium. Here everyone knows everything about everyone, sometimes more than desired.

Today's issue will be focused on the new personnel in the government. As a source in Servant of the People told , there were two reasons why Yuriy Vitrenko was not appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy.

"First of all, Vitrenko was promoted by Ihor Kolomoisky and Victor Pinchuk. Secondly, the Head of the Presidential Administration, Andriy Yermak. Vitrenko promised Kolomoisky at least not to increase, but as a maximum to reduce electricity tariffs for large industrial consumers. It was planned to do this by reducing tariffs for thermal power," the source explained.

According to him, this did not suit Rinat Akhmetov who agreed with the deputies from the group of Ilia Pavlyuk and DmytroRazumkov that they did not vote for Yuriy Vitrenko. The voting was also ignored by the deputies close to Arsen Avakov.

The most unusual story, according to the publication’s source, happened with the voting for the allocation of a $4 million premium to Yuriy Vitrenko. The latter promised the Servant of the People faction that the money would be paid to him within several years. But Naftogaz unexpectedly decided to pay off its debts in the near future.

There are at least two versions why. Servant of the People party members say that it was the initiative of the NJSC supervisory board where Vitrenko is disliked. A source close to the Presidential Administration, on the contrary, claims that Andriy Yermak was the initiator. In any case, this payment played a dirty joke on Yuriy Vitrenko.

Some of the deputies refused to vote for him after this decision, referring to the fact that he had broken promises given to the faction.

Vitrenko's appointment remains dubious. The second vote for his candidacy was to be initiated in the Verkhovna Rada tomorrow. But the candidacy was not nominated.

The second story concerns the new Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food. A source in Servant of the People told that Taras Vysotsky, the former Deputy Minister of Economy supervising the agricultural sector, was close to entrepreneurs Yuri Kosiuk and Rinat Akhmetov.

As for the future Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Roman Leshchenko, he is completely the man of President Volodymyr Zelensky. Thus, the head of state will be able to restore control over the industry.

According to a source in the Presidential Administration, Volodymyr Zelenskyy also received a loyal leader in the head of the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Its current head Valentyn Reznichenko is close to the mayor Borys Filatov and the entrepreneur Hennadiy Korban, who were in strained relations with the previous head of the Regional State Administration Oleksandr Bondarenko.