Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has fired acting Energy Minister Olha Buslavets in a Nov. 20 emergency session. Her deputy Yuriy Boyko was appointed in her place.
Buslavets was never confirmed by parliament and couldn’t become a full-fledged minister. She was appointed acting minister on April 16, bypassing confirmation.
Her ouster wasn’t a surprise. A career government official, Buslavets was long accused of lobbying the interests of oligarch Rinat Akhmetov. Both she and Akhmetov’s representatives deny it.
Buslavets was the only minister who declined to sign a protocol that said that the “Rotterdam+” coal pricing formula robbed the nation. According to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), under its previous leader, the ministry agreed that the formula was unreasonable.
The infamous “Rotterdam+” formula was introduced in 2016 by Ukraine’s energy regulator and ran until July 2019. After the coal-rich Donbas became a conflict zone, Ukraine grew more dependent on foreign coal. The formula set energy prices based on a coal index in European hubs “plus” the cost of its delivery to Ukraine.
Read More: Why authorities are trying to kill key Rotterdam+ investigation
However, most of the coal didn’t originate from European hubs, coming from local producers in Ukraine instead. According to NABU, paying for nonexistent delivery stole Hr 39 billion ($1.4 billion) from Ukrainian energy consumers.
NABU alleges that the main beneficiary was Ukraine’s largest energy company and coal producer DTEK, owned by Akhmetov. DTEK denies all accusations.
In October, the energy ministry told the Kyiv Post that Buslavets “defends the interests of the state and advocates the development of all energy sectors.” It also said that the ministry has always assisted the NABU in the “Rotterdam+” investigation, providing it with all the documents the detectives requested.
It’s not the first time Buslavets’ actions were questioned.
On Aug. 19, the labor union of the state nuclear company Energoatom gathered for a protest in downtown Kyiv, calling for her resignation.
Days prior, Servant of the People lawmaker Serhiy Nahornyak revealed that the energy ministry had put in a last-minute change that would set a very high price floor for nuclear power. Energoatom publicly complained that this would make its energy uncompetitive. Energoatom is a competitor of DTEK.
Buslavets’ successor Boyko has long been a state official. In 2014, Boyko was appointed deputy head of Energorynok, a state-owned company that served as an intermediary between energy producers and energy distributing companies called oblenergos.
After the introduction of the energy market reform, which began operation on July 1, 2019, Energorynok was to be closed. The company is now awaiting a parliament decree that would kill the company.
After leaving Energorynok, Boyko was appointed deputy head of the energy ministry.
