Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, through his press service, denies the premise that he appoints individuals to top government positions based on their personal loyalty and closeness to his family rather than qualifications.
The denial was made in a statement issued by the president’s press service in response to Kyiv Post inquiries made before the March 2 publication of a front-page story headlined “All In The Family.”
Pointing to a flurry of recent appointments, sources quoted in the story claim that the president has in recent months increasingly turned to what appear to be family friends and loyalists for top government positions, putting them in charge of state finances, security services and the military.
“The Family” – or “Simya” as it is known in Ukrainian – is the shorthand way that politicians, analysts and the business community refers to this group, which allegedly is heavily influenced by the president’s elder son Oleksandr Yanukovych.
Recent additions to the government that allegedly fall into this group are 38-years-old Finance Minister Yuriy Kolobov, who previously worked under current central bank chief Serhiy Arbuzov, Defense Minister Dmytro Salamatin and SBU security agency head Ihor Kalinin.
Yanukovych’s office, however, steadfastly denies appointing loyalists and family friends rather in favor of more qualified individuals. The presidential press service suggests instead that recent appointments have brought a fresh and qualified group of managers to government. “The advancement of new leaders, young managers in government is the obvious necessity, especially when in the sphere of state finances,” reads the statement emailed to the Kyiv Post.
The presidential press service added that government appointments are based entirely on professionalism and “willingness and ability to create a vibrant governmental team that will effectively work for the best of Ukraine.”
Kyiv Post staff writer Svitlana Tuchynska can be reached at [email protected].
