On its first day, Aug. 29, Ukraine’s new parliament voted for several key appointees, including the new prime minister and Cabinet (see page 3), the parliament speakers, prosecutor general, and head of the State Security Service.
Ruslan Riaboshapka
prosecutor general of Ukraine
Riaboshapka was a top official at the National Agency for Preventing Corruption in 2016-2017. However, he quit in protest of ex-President Petro Poroshenko’s control over what was supposed to be an independent anti-corruption institution. Riaboshapka is a long-time acquaintance of Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Andriy Bohdan, with whom he worked in the government of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych. Riaboshapka is also a co-chair of the controversial judicial reform commission created by Zelensky. Numerous judges implicated in corruption scandals and the sabotage of reforms have been appointed to the commission.
In his new post, Riaboshapka replaces Yuriy Lutsenko, a discredited political appointee of ex-President Petro Poroshenko.
Ivan Bakanov
head of State Security Service or SBU
Bakanov, 45, is Zelensky’s childhood friend, who was the long-time head of Kvartal 95, a production studio founded by Zelensky. He has been the acting head of the SBU since May. Bakanov headed Zelensky’s Servant of the People party from when it was created in December 2017 until May. He was also head of Zelensky’s presidential campaign.
Dmytro Razumkov
speaker of parliament
Razumkov is a political technologist who was in charge of Zelensky’s presidential campaign and, after the May election, went on to head the president’s party, Servant of the People. Before that, Razumkov was a managing partner of the Ukrainian Politconsulting Group. In 2006-2010 he was a member of the Party of Regions of ex-President Yanukovych, when the Kremlin-backed former president was in opposition. Razumkov said he was a member because he disagreed with the policy of pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko. Razumkov’s late father, Oleksandr Razumkov, was the first aide of ex-President Leonid Kuchma.
Ruslan Stefanchuk
deputy speaker of parliament
Stefanchuk is Zelensky’s representative in parliament, his adviser and the ideologist of the Servant of the People party. He is a legal scholar and professor who participated in the drafting of many bills. In 2016-2018, Stefanchuk was an adviser to Vice-Prime Minister Stepan Kubiv. In 2017, he applied to become a judge of the Supreme Court but failed to pass the competition. Stefanchuk said he has known Zelensky since college, when they both participated in KVN, a popular comedy competition.
Olena Kondratyuk
deputy speaker of parliament
Olena Kondratyuk has been a lawmaker from ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna party since 2007.
She was an activist during the 2013-2014 EuroMaidan Revolution that overthrew President Yanukovych. Her husband is Oleksandr Bogutsky, the CEO of television channel ICTV.
