The team of Ukrainian presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy has no special agreements with Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, Zelenskiy’s campaign staff spokesperson Dmytro Razumkov said.
“As part of the procedures conducted by the Interior Ministry and the law enforcement agencies when we were shadowed and bugged, Volodymyr Oleksandrovych [Zelenskiy] provided testimony – so there is a link with the Interior Ministry in this sense. But if you talk about attempts to somehow fix the game, there have been no such initiatives either on the ministry’s part or on our part,” Razumkov said in an interview with the BBC.
During the first round of the presidential election on March 31, “the law enforcement assumed a balanced and equidistant position from all political forces,” and moreover, this was the first such election campaign in Ukraine, he said.
“Whatever anyone might say, police played at the top of their game,” Razumkov said.
Zelenskiy might introduce part of his team soon, he said.
“It’s a president who should introduce their team – not on the march but after taking the office. But, in line with his promises, Volodymyr Oleksandrovych said part of the team would be introduced before the second round. I think it’s not that long to wait for that,” he said.
“Why didn’t this happen earlier? Unfortunately, some people with whom we had negotiations decided within a very short period of time to support the incumbent guarantor for unknown reasons,” Razumkov said.
“And if we talk about our team, some of its members have felt the administrative pressure to the fullest possible extent,” he said.
“But if we talk about the distribution of portfolios, this is not our philosophy, and we are not going to fix the game behind the scenes. Such is Zelensky’s position,” Razumkov said.
