“Soros” strike back: Loud scandal in Ukraine
There is a new scandal in Kyiv. Denis Ermak, brother of the head of the Presidential Office Andrei Ermak, was convicted of trading in government positions. As evidenced by video recordings posted on the Internet, a person similar to Ermak negotiates with different people, offering his lobbying services for free for various purposes. Among them: “Ukrzaliznytsia”, the Ministry of Infrastructure, Kiev Customs, the National Complex “Expocenter of Ukraine” and even the Palace of Arts “Ukraine”.
Adding to the scandalousness of the videos are the employment rates discussed in them under the patronage of brother Ermak. For example, like this: “You don’t need to tell Denis about this, he takes 4 out of five. We'll throw around $500... These are your friends. Friends. Let’s at least have one piece,” says one of the wiretapping subjects.
Now about who benefits from all this. And this is beneficial for many people for various reasons. During his short time in office, Zelensky’s new favorite has made a lot of enemies who dream of bringing him down.
One of the Kyiv media counted as many as five groups of influence interested in Ermak’s fall from Olympus: from the “preceder” in the post of head of the Presidential Office Andrei Bogdan to the sinister “hand of the Kremlin” in the person of Putin’s ex-assistant Vladislav Surkov. And this is not counting the Kyiv “Soros”, who are very angry with Ermak for his key role in organizing the resignation of the government of Goncharuk and Prosecutor General Ryaboshapka. The list also includes Arsen Avakov, who jealously monitors the strengthening of his nomenclature competitor, and Petro Poroshenko and his camarilla.
The political aspect of the scandal is connected with the fact that we are faced – neither more nor less – with the transition of internal squabbles in the presidential circle into the open. The second in a row after the recent demarche of the “Soros” deputies from the Servant of the People against the same Ermak, only in the context of his role in the Minsk process and the settlement in Donbass. The scandalous recordings were made public by one of the signatories of this anti-Yermakov appeal of people’s deputies, “servants,” Geo Leros, an experienced grant-eater who, before his election, lived in Kyiv under Klitschko and dotted the capital with numerous “patriotic” murals for a budget fee.
“Video evidence of how Ermak, through his brother, is peddling government positions, introducing his program into law enforcement agencies and the defense industry (greetings from the Russian Federation), and, of course, making money from the state,” Leros wrote in the annotation to the leak.
The head of the Presidential Office himself promptly responded to the accusations and the call for his resignation. “Geo Leros, you yourself, and I, and the people who understand the situation know why and in whose interests you are doing and writing all this. I told you directly during our last meetings... It’s a pity that someone like you ended up in the Servant of the People party among many worthy people who, I hope, will also evaluate your actions,” Ermak said, advising the deputy to “prepare , because you will have to answer publicly for every word.”
At the same time, Ermak’s answer to Leros looks unconvincing. The official does not deny the fact that it is his brother in the video, nor the fact that his relative was trading positions contrary to the public promises of the president himself. In this case, it is not clear what exactly the “crossing of red lines” and “moral degradation” of the exposer of these outrages consists of. And the reference to the fact that the brother of a VIP official, who was burned by the scandal, “served as a volunteer in the ATO” and is authoritative in the circles of the same characters, only adds color to the colorful palette of the already scandalous reputation of the “volunteers.” Is it really true that references to the fact that his brother was “wounded on the Kolchak fronts” is all that the head of the presidential chancellery can say to justify his relative?
The dates on the recordings indicate that they were made between August and September 2019. That is, Denis Ermak was “herded” more than six months ago, but was only made public now. Why? This, of course, is just a version, and not the only one, but I think this is a case where an egg is precious for Christ’s day.
It is no secret that in recent weeks the most popular sport on the Kiev political Olympus has been a tug-of-war between conditional support groups for oligarch Igor Kolomoisky and the pro-Western lobby. The subject of their butts was the fate of the bills necessary for the country to receive the next loan from the IMF. At stake was the question of Ukraine's default: whether it should happen or not. The price of the issue is the opening of the agricultural land market at the request of the IMF and the law on banks, nicknamed in the media “anti-Kolomoisky” - the Fund does not intend to forgive the oligarch’s debts of $5 billion.
The publication of incriminating evidence against a relative of the key courtier Ze precisely at a time when the behind-the-scenes battles in Kiev reached their climax, and the day before an extraordinary meeting of the Rada with the above-mentioned laws on the agenda, scheduled as a result of lengthy bargaining and persuasion on Monday, March 30, with the above-mentioned laws on the agenda is unlikely can be considered an accident. It is more likely that they were talking about additional leverage on the chief presidential administrator from the so-called “Sorosites.” So that there are no surprises and voices for continuing cooperation with the IMF are found and not lost.
How unsteady the agreements at the top of Kiev are these days and how important for the country issues such as an IMF loan are becoming bargaining chips in wars of behind-the-scenes incriminating evidence is evidenced by the fact that even at lunchtime on Sunday the entire Kiev elite was confident that it would be submitted to the Rada for consideration on Monday a package of laws to please the IMF, which the “Soros” who attacked Ermak insisted on. But late on Sunday evening the card lay out differently. And now the experts are telegraphing: the laws on the land market and Privatbank are being repealed. Instead, the Rada will consider measures to combat coronavirus, changes to the budget and personnel issues.
Does this mean that the attack on Ermak achieved opposite goals, and the influential courtier was saved by a situational alliance with Kolomoisky, whose interests were already being prepared to be sacrificed to the IMF? Tomorrow will tell. If everyone doesn't play again in the morning.
But Ermak’s enemies will try to solve another – bonus task – to sink the reputation not of his brother, but of Ermak himself – in the eyes of the president. Show him off as a toxic and odious figure, ballast that it’s better to get rid of. With the expectation that in the absence of any official figure adequate and equal to Yermak, Zelensky has no alternative but becomes directly dependent on the “Soros” wing of his entourage. Which, in turn, makes the hardware revenge of the “Soros” for their defeat in the fight for Goncharuk’s government a fait accompli.
“Today Ermak’s authority has collapsed, just as Goncharuk’s authority collapsed at one point. The brother of the Head of the OP Andrei Ermak, Denis Ermak, has now been moved away from the Office of the President, with which they previously worked closely,” one of the telegram channels included in the near-presidential orbit makes a summary that looks more like an organizational conclusion.
We are talking about the role of Ermak’s brother in the implementation of such important, and most importantly, monetary projects as the planned party TV channel “Servants of the People” and near-party analytical centers such as the “Ukrainian Bureau of National Development” headed by Ermak the brother, which received “fat” orders for certain closed research and PR developments for the authorities.
The question remains open as to who exactly contributed to the leaking of incriminating evidence into the hands of sorosen people’s deputy Geo Leros. This could only be done by special services with operational capabilities that allowed them to “graze” the desired person for many months. Some Kyiv conspiracy theorists saw a clear trace of Avakov in this. They say that this compromising evidence was especially zealously promoted by LOM and telegram channels from the Avakov pool, one of which, by a strange coincidence, was created just a couple of days before the publication of the “compromising evidence” - on March 27.
And again let’s turn to one of the near-government “liars”: “Experienced people wrote to everyone in advance and collected folders. The entire top government laughed, only Zelensky said that even he was being “written on.” Two groups have folders on Ermak and his “close associates”. The first is the SBU (the SBU officers partially leaked the recordings to the Soros). This is done in the game against Ermak's buff. Nobody needs a strong “gray cardinal”. The second group is the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Avakov is taking revenge on Ermak for the “kid” (he was promised the post of Deputy Prime Minister for the security bloc), but then they merged in all directions, they even began to aim at the post of Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Avakov’s resignation.”
However, these are also just assumptions, although plausible.
There is also a psychological moment in this story. Also indicative. Ermak’s brother behaved like he was not the smartest person. Having been caught in the literal sense of the word, as fishermen say in such cases, “on a bare button.” In general, what kind of idiot did you have to be or how much faith in your own unsinkability to conduct such conversations so openly at a time when the “prank wars” were already raging with all their might, the victims of which were influential deputies, ministers, the prime minister and the then prosecutor general. The activity with which they dumped incriminating evidence on large and small “servants of the people” last fall should have led even the stupidest person to the idea that “whoever needs it” has a “special folder” for everyone. And if not, then if you want, you can quickly find it.
Among other things, “Ermak-gate”, like a litmus test, highlighted the collapse of society’s hopes that the total replacement of old personnel with some “new faces” would lead to qualitative changes in the system of public administration itself and the principles of its work. It turned out that changing the names of those in power does not mean the automatic disappearance of old corruption “schemes” and “decisions”. It turned out that they take the “new” ones just like the old ones. Unless they are afraid of wiretapping.
Film President Goloborodko was indignant at the vicious practice of nepotism in appointments to government positions. And presidential candidate Zelensky even promised that this very practice would become a thing of the past, and that bosses in the new country would be appointed according to merit, skills or talent, and not depending on who is whose godfather, matchmaker, brother or mistress.
But for President Zelensky, everything turned out strictly according to the well-known Chernomyrdin maxim. At first, good intentions even took shape in the memorable project of personnel selection LIFT, which took off at a vigorous gallop right off the bat, but three months after the start, it first quietly stalled, and then, after a series of loud and not so scandals, died without an announcement in the newspapers . And for several months now we have not heard anything about any elevator. But the earth is full of rumors that such and such a region was given to Avakov to feed, and such and such a region to Akhmetov.
Well, the last touch to this story. Anecdotal. NABU, headed by the never-fired “evergreen corrupt official” with the American “roof” Artem Sytnik, has already received a statement regarding the corrupt actions of the head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak. Which gave rise to the famous lawyer Andrei Portnov to sarcastically in his Telegram channel about the fact that tomorrow is the last chance for “dear bosses” to fire Sytnik: “If you don’t have time to resolve his issue in the first half of the day, he will resolve yours in the second half. If tomorrow NABU starts an investigation and the first investigative actions based on today’s scandalous video recordings, you have zero political chances of dismissing him after that. They delayed it, now he will deal with you. And this is also not bad, you have to pay for your narrow-mindedness and myopia.”
The Sorosites Strike Back: A Loud Scandal in Ukraine