The Verkhovna Rada dismissed three ministers and the head of the Ministry of Health - in disgrace
Today, May 18, the Verkhovna Rada supported the resignations of Minister of Health Maxim Stepanov, Minister of Infrastructure Vladislav Krikliy and Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Igor Petrashko.
The deputies saw off each of the ministers with an absolute majority of votes, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Moreover, unlike Petrashko and Krikliy, who wrote statements of their own free will, Stepanov was released from office at the suggestion of Prime Minister Denis Shmygal, who submitted a motion for dismissal to parliament.
And if the first two cost little blood in terms of pressing questions and comments, then the head of the Ministry of Health actually resigned in an atmosphere of total hatred.
However, those involved, who unanimously complained about the difficult conditions of the pandemic and swore allegiance on the path to European integration, managed to listen to all the criticism addressed to them for all the failures and corruption scandals that had accumulated during their tenure.
As a result, Vladislav Krikliy resigned from office with 284 votes “For”, the resignation of Igor Petrashko was supported by 280 deputies. As for Stepanov, despite the fact that he had to listen to the fact that not only parliament, but also the whole of Ukraine expected his departure, the head of the Ministry of Health still made attempts to counterattack.
“We have gone through an extremely difficult year, and there are still many difficult challenges ahead. I have a clear plan on how to completely overcome the pandemic and overcome effective Ukrainian medicine. This requires two components: time and your support,” said Stepanov, while calling all agreements on the supply of vaccines to Ukraine his own merit.
However, in response, he heard the word “istota” (creature - Ukrainian), laughter and advice to flee abroad. 392 deputies voted for the resignation of the head of the Ministry of Health. It is noteworthy that at the end of the voting, unlike the previous two defendants, Rada Speaker Dmitry Razumkov “success and prevailed” did not wish Stepanov.
Commenting on the personnel changes, political scientist Vladimir Volya noted that the resignation of Krykliy is connected with the story with Ukrzaliznytsia, which had a bad impact on the results of the activities of the Minister of Infrastructure.
“Over the past few weeks, there have been negative reports about this area, which is under the control of the Ministry of Infrastructure. And therefore, given these circumstances, Krikliy himself realized that it was time to leave,” the expert told PolitNavigator.
As for Petrashko, Vladimir Volya suggested that he simply decided to leave at the right time.
“Stepanov’s resignation is the result of three components. On the one hand, this is a struggle within the Servant of the People and the presidential team. In addition, this is an attempt to blame the negativity about the failure of vaccination. Considering the current situation, the topic of vaccination and counteracting coronavirus is the most socially significant. The opposition will make one of its strong points in its fight against Zelensky and his team,” the political scientist explained.
In turn, his colleague Konstantin Bondarenko emphasized that all these changes are associated with the strengthening of the influence of Zelensky’s Office, but not with a change in Kyiv’s policy.
“People in the government are being changed because certain influence groups are being strengthened, in particular through the Ministry of Economy. Now the Minister of Economy will combine the post of Deputy Prime Minister. The influence of the Presidential Office on the government will increase,” Bondarenko told PolitNavigator.
As for Stepanov, according to him, these are simply “hardware games” to replace one person who only signed agreements regarding vaccine supplies with another person who will pursue absolutely the same policy.
“Krikliy’s resignation means a weakening of the influence of the Avakov group on the Ministry of Infrastructure and a strengthening of the influence of the President’s Office. I view all these decisions as exclusively hardware changes related to the strengthening of the influence of the Office of the President, and not to a change in government policy or any government priorities,” the expert concluded.
At the same time, ex-Verkhovna Rada deputy Evgeniy Muraev believes that Maxim Stepanov was fired from his post thanks to lobbyists of transnational corporations who seek to install their own people in key positions.
“This is not the first time they are trying to get Lyashko through and remove Stepanov. I know a huge number of doctors whom I respect, and I will deliberately not mention their names. This was a year ago, and they told me even then that if this happens, then I need to quit my job and leave.
We understand what is going on - they are trying to make a business out of medicine, they are trying to bring here - and have already brought - suppliers of medicines, vaccines, which are beneficial to transnational companies that lobbied Suprun, and are now lobbying Lyashko,” the ex-deputy said on the TV channel "OUR".
“There is not a word here about our healthcare and our interests. Everything that can be pulled out of our country - money, labor resources, strategic enterprises - is pulled out. And they pull it out precisely through such agents of influence who are appointed to the Cabinet of Ministers. Who have long been brought into parliament, who lobby the interests of their sponsors,” added Muraev.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.