The head of the Presidentʼs Office says that he did not influence the appointment of temporary heads of the SBU and the Prosecutorʼs Office

The head of the Presidentʼs Office, Andriy Yermak, assured in an interview with "NV" that he did not influence the presidentʼs personnel decisions and did not attend the birthday of his deputy Oleh Tatarov and does not know whether the newly appointed temporary heads of the prosecutorʼs office and the SBU were there.

"I did not go out on the day of Tatarovʼs birth, so I can neither confirm nor deny whether they were there. And when the president decided to appoint them, which is important, as "temporary acting", it definitely did not affect his decision. There is a corresponding procedure, according to which the president determined to whom he entrusts these duties," Yermak says.

According to him, the monopolization of power attributed to him is more of a conspiracy theory.

"I have no other goals except to serve my country and work for the president. As for Tatarovʼs influence: he did not offer these candidates to me, and I, accordingly, did not offer them to the president," said the head of the Presidentʼs Office.

"I do not feel that after these appointments, my status or my influence on these processes has changed in any way. I continue to work 24/7. My main direction, apart from those in peacetime: our army must get all the weapons it needs. And today, I see the results, including my work," Yermak assured.

When asked by a journalist why Symonenko was appointed temporary head of the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office if Roman Hovda was Venediktovaʼs first deputy, the head of the Presidentʼs Office answered:

"According to the law on the legal regime of martial law, the president himself determines who to appoint. It does not necessarily depend on the first deputy. I said from the beginning that the main goal was to ensure a completely transparent investigation of all these facts regarding collaborators, possible traitors, etc. I think that this is what caused the appointment in one case of the first deputy, in another case — just a deputy. This corresponds to the current legislation and the law that was adopted."

• On the evening of July 17, two presidential decrees were issued — on the removal of Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and on the removal of SBU head Ivan Bakanov from his duties. For the time being, Venediktovaʼs deputy, Oleksiy Symonenko, will perform the duties of the Prosecutor General, and Vasyl Malyuk, the first deputy — of the head of the Security Service of Ukraine.
• On July 18, Zelensky submitted to the Council a request for the dismissal of Venediktova and Bakanov. On the morning of July 19, the president dismissed the deputy head of the Security Service and changed the heads of the SBU in five oblasts.