President Volodymyr Zelensky, on Jan. 17, gathered heads of Ukraine’s law enforcement and security agencies in the president’s office and demanded that they investigate a recent leak of an audio recording from a December government meeting.
On Jan. 15, a three-part recording was published online in an apparent attempt to discredit Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk and poison President Volodymyr Zelensky’s opinion of him.
Honcharuk is the second top government official to be targeted by recent audio leaks after Nov. 19 recordings released by an unknown source seemed to capture State Investigations Bureau chief Roman Truba receiving instructions from the president’s office, though Truba denied the authenticity of those recordings.
The latest recording featured the prime minister saying that “Zelensky had a very primitive understanding of the economy” during a Dec. 16 meeting with cabinet ministers and officials from the national bank.
Read More: Prime Minister Honcharuk targeted in latest audio leak
“I demand that in two weeks, as fast as possible, we know who was recording (the prime minister),” said Zelensky, on Jan. 17.
Among those in attendance were Ivan Bakanov, head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Prosecutor General Ruslan Riaboshapka, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, heads of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the State Investigation Bureau Artem Sytnyk and Iryna Venedyktova, a lawmaker from the presidential party Service of the People, and Serhiy Rud, head of the State Security Administration responsible for protecting top government officials.
Earlier the same day, Honcharuk filed to Zelensky a letter of resignation. It appeared to be a gesture to show loyalty since, according to the law, a prime minister should tender resignation to the parliament rather than the president.
“We all came here to reform the country because of him, and I have much respect for him,” Honcharuk told said on Jan. 17. “It is important for us to have his full trust.”
According to Honcharuk, the government is continuing its work as usual until further notice about the president’s decision.
A number of lawmakers called the move disrespectful to the parliament and the constitution, according to which resignation letter should be handed to the parliament’s speaker and not passed along through the president.
Zelensky didn’t have a public reaction to Honcharuk’s resignation or his statements in the leaked recording, but his order to investigate the leak appeared to be a show of support for the prime minister.
Zelensky said that a criminal case must be opened and that all the people present during the recorded meeting must be identified.
The recordings were allegedly made during a Dec. 16 meeting hosted by Honcharuk. An image from the meeting published by the cabinet shows those in attendance were Finance Minister Oksana Markarova, her deputy Yuriy Butsa, Economy Minister Timofiy Mylovanov, head of the National Bank Yakiv Smolii and his deputies Kateryna Rozhkova and Dmytro Sologub, and Oleksandra Betliy, a senior economist at the Finance Ministry.
Zelensky, however, mentioned that Honcharuk told him that the three-part recording, with a total length of 21 minutes, was made during several meetings with a combined length of up to five hours.
The president also demanded that law enforcement and security services prevent such incidents in the future.
“Unauthorized listening and recording of conversations should not take place in the premises of public authorities at all levels, as it is a matter of national security,” said the president.
