Despite President Volodymyr Zelensky’s pledge to Ukraine’s international partners that Artem Sytnyk will remain the head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), his own administration doesn’t appear ready to go along with it.
Oleg Tatarov, deputy head of the administration, said on Nov. 28 that the NABU did not serve Ukraine’s interests and that Sytnyk doesn’t have “the moral right” to continue running the agency and should be replaced.
“The root of all issues with our anti-corruption policies is Artem Sytnyk,” Tatarov said.
Tatarov is one of the officials who oversee law enforcement bodies in the administration.
His controversial statement contradicts the president’s position. On Nov. 19, Zelensky met with G7 ambassadors and told them that Sytnyk will keep the job — a signal meant to demonstrate the Ukrainian leadership’s commitment to fighting corruption.
Following Tatarov’s comments, the Presidential Office released a statement late on Nov. 29, saying that Tatarov voiced “his personal opinion that does not reflect the administration’s official position regarding the issue.”
Moreover, in the official statement, Tatarov was also quoted as saying that he had only stated his personal sentiments and that he continued to offer full support to the president’s anti-corruption initiatives.
The crisis threatening the NABU began in late August, when the country’s Constitutional Court ruled unconstitutional the 2015 decision to appoint Sytnyk to head the agency. Moreover, in late October, the Kyiv District Administrative Court ruled that Sytnyk must hand his office over to one of his deputies and leave within 1 month.
The crisis escalated on Oct. 27, when the Constitutional Court declared illegal certain provisions of the country’s anti-graft legislation, paralyzing the country’s years-long, painful anti-corruption campaign.
Sytnyk’s upcoming dismissal triggered a backlash from the West, which supports him and the NABU. Zelensky tried to reassure Ukraine’s Western partners that Sytnyk would keep his job.
“The Constitutional Court decision does not cancel the fact of the NABU’s inception and functioning, does not impede NABU investigators and does not controvert the NABU’s status as a law enforcement agency,” the president was quoted as saying in the Nov. 19 meeting with G7 ambassadors. “We guarantee that the NABU director will hold on to his post.”
Following that promise, the Cabinet of Ministers initiated a bill that would ensure that Sytnyk stays despite the Constitutional Court’s ruling. It is expected to be reviewed in the parliament soon, likely in early December.
Tatarov was appointed to the Zelensky administration in early August, despite the fact that he used to serve in the country’s Interior Ministry during the times of President Viktor Yanukovych. During the EuroMaidan Revolution of 2013-2014, Tatarov accused the protesters of attacking the riot police.
Following the revolution’s victory, he was among those fired from government service as part of a lustration campaign against officials involved in the crackdown on protesters.
He can work in the presidential office despite the lustration law because the law doesn’t apply to deputy heads of the administration.
