Serhiy Tihipko became a freelance advisor to the head of the Presidentʼs Office Kyrylo Budanov

Former MP and government official Serhiy Tihipko became one of the freelance advisors to the head of the Presidential Office (OP) Kyrylo Budanov.

This was reported by the head of the Department for Citizen Appeals and Access to Public Information of the Office of the President in response to a request from the "Chesno" movement.

Tihipko is a former leader of the Strong Ukraine party and deputy prime minister under Yanukovych. On January 16, 2014, Tihipko voted for the “dictatorial laws”, which became one of the symbols of Yanukovych’s attempt to suppress Ukrainian protests.

He was also the first chairman of the board of “Privatbank”, is the owner of the financial and industrial group "TAS". One of the banks included in the group is “Universal Bank”, which provides a license for “monobank”. As of 2022, Tihipko was among the ten richest Ukrainians, according to Forbes.

According to “Chesno”, among Budanovʼs freelance advisers in the OP are also the following people:

• Andriy Yusov — a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate (known as GUR) of the Ministry of Defense;
• Roman Devyatov — an assistant to former deputies (Volodymyr Kurenny from “BYT” and Eduard Hurvits from “UDAR”), former deputy chairman and member of the council of the Odesa regional organization of the “UDAR” party, which at that time was headed by Andriy Yusov.

In addition, Mykhailo Podolyak, Serhiy Leshchenko, Ihor Veremiy, and Viktoria Strakhova are freelance advisors to the entire Office of the President.

As “Chesno” notes, the official website of the President of Ukraine does not contain information about freelance advisors and the areas of their work.

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