Ukraine is hosting the first day of the meeting of the new, ninth convocation of the Verkhovna Rada. Most of the seats in parliament (254 out of 450) are held by the party "Servant of the People" supporting the president Vladimir Zelensky.

Speaking to the deputies, the head of state said that parliamentarians have a year to demonstrate their effectiveness. Otherwise, Zelensky threatened to dissolve the Rada.

“God forbid you will go down in history as a parliament that lasted the least - one year. In fact, this is your trial period. Believe me, I already know that dissolving the Verkhovna Rada is not so scary, ”he said.

Recall that the Council of the eighth convocation was dissolved by Zelensky ahead of schedule, its powers expired only in the fall.

“You have every chance to get into the textbooks as a parliament ... which embodied everything that the previous 28 years could not, as a parliament, where there were no fights, I beg you, absenteeism, button-pushing,” he emphasized.

The main tasks for the deputies Zelensky called the end of the war in the Donbass and the "return of the Crimea." Recall that the majority of the inhabitants of the peninsula in a referendum in 2014 voted to reunite with Russia.

A RT source in the Servant of the People party noted that Zelensky requires parliament to work quickly and skillfully.

“He forbade the deputies to leave the hall during the consideration of bills, to skip meetings, and requires the deputies to work as long as necessary. I just wonder when the deputies will express displeasure? In fact, they were deprived of the opportunity to act independently, ”said the deputy.

According to him, Zelensky arrives in euphoria that he can do anything, and this the new president reminds Petro Poroshenko in 2014.

“How it all ended, we all know,” the deputy concluded.

New prime minister

On the first day, the Rada began to form the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. So, the chairman of the Cabinet elected the 35-year-old deputy head of the presidential administration Aleksey Goncharuk, who was responsible for Zelensky’s team for economic transformation. According to media reports, Goncharuk has a PhD in law. Until 2014, he worked as a lawyer and was engaged in business - he received the right to practice law in 2007, but in 2018 it was suspended.

In 2014, he joined the liberal pro-European party, “The Power of People,” and in the same year he was elected to parliament, but to no avail. Later, Goncharuk served as a freelance adviser to the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, and then - Advisor to the Head of the Ministry of Economic Development of Ukraine.

From 2015 to 2019, he headed the Office of Effective Regulation of an independent expert and analytical center. This organization was created by the Ministry of Economic Development with the participation of Western grants. Its goal, as stated on the site, is “to develop and implement tools for effective state regulation aimed at the public interest and the development of small and medium-sized enterprises”.

As deputy head of the Zelensky administration, Goncharuk dealt with economic development issues. He noted that his dream is that “in three years Ukraine will enter the top 10 of the World Doing Business rating,” which speaks of the ease of doing business in the country. At the moment, Ukraine occupies 71st place in it.

Addressing the deputies at the end of the vote, Goncharuk noted that the main objective of his work would be to grow the economy “at least 5-7%”, which should allow “to approach the level that is considered normal in the world.”

“You all know our problems: these are the debts that we inherited, this is the smashed infrastructure and the war in the east,” he said. - We still have corruption. We still have not managed to cope with the fact that when someone comes to power, he begins to "cut" something.

  • Alexey Goncharuk
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Continuing pro-European reforms can be expected from Goncharuk, says Ruslan Bortnik, director of the Ukrainian Institute for Analysis and Policy Management.

“This person is a young, pro-Western oriented liberal, therefore, most likely, one should expect from him to some extent the continuation of pro-Western reforms of the European type - in terms of economy, social policy. Reducing the burden on the budget in terms of social support for citizens, deregulation, possibly demonopolization, ”he told RT.

At the same time, Zelensky relied not only on his pro-Western course, but also on loyalty, Bortnik believes.

“The first is Zelensky’s trust and inability to compete in the system due to the lack of experience in managing large systems. The second is trust on the part of Western, primarily European institutions and partners, ”the expert is convinced.

A source in the European Solidarity party told RT that Alexey Goncharuk was respected by Ukrainian and foreign experts. At the same time, he was not allowed to appoint his team, the source said.

“Arsen Avakov, who is opposed by activists, will remain the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Avakov is friends with Igor Kolomoisky. The Minister will be Dmitry Dubilet, close to Kolomoisky. All these appointments raise a huge number of questions. Why exactly these people will appear in parliament? ”, - says the representative of the party.

The long-awaited resignation

Zelensky also asked the new parliament for consent to the resignation of Attorney General Yuriy Lutsenko. The previous squad refused to strip him of his post. During the time that he was at his post, Lutsenko repeatedly became a participant in scandals, including corruption.

To replace him, the president proposes Ruslana Ryaboshapka, the former deputy minister of justice of Ukraine and the National Anti-Corruption Agency.

The head of the SBU Vasily Gritsak was also dismissed. As in the case of Lutsenko, the president could not dismiss him. Earlier, the court ordered the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine to institute criminal proceedings against him.

Gritsak's place was taken by Ivan Bakanov, the head of the Kvartal-95 studio, where Zelensky worked until his election. The head of state and Bakanov are also linked by friendly ties - they grew and studied together. His experience in public service began with the Zelensky presidency - in May, the head of state appointed him first deputy head of the SBU and a member of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC).

  • Participants in the rally for the resignation of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov and the head of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko at the building of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine in Kiev, May 14, 2019
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Cabinet update

During the vote in the Rada, the head of the ruling party "Servant of the People" Dmitry Razumkov was appointed speaker of the parliament. At the beginning of the first session, he, together with the deputy from the Golos party, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, introduced a bill on the resignation of cabinet members. The current government should resign before the new convocation of parliament.

Former Interior Minister Arsen Avakov retained his post in the new government. Such an outcome was previously indicated by messages of Zelensky's representatives. So, the deputy of the “Servant of the People” Roksolan Pidlas said that Zelensky called for support of the Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and leave him at his post.

“According to the Minister of the Interior, a proposal to vote for Avakov from the president. I believe that if this proposal is from the president, we will support it, ”she said.

Prime Minister Goncharuk also spoke out in favor of keeping Avakov in office. The new head of the Ukrainian government called the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs a man "who has done a lot to ensure that Ukraine remains within the borders that are now."

However, in Ukraine, the decision regarding Avakov caused a serious public outcry. So, on August 28, at the president’s office in Kiev, several hundred people took part in protests against Avakov and demanding his resignation. Participants in the rally believe that the minister "failed the reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, is responsible for police inaction after the attacks and killings of activists." Protesters burned fires and shouted "Avakov hell."

On August 29, the protests continued, but already at the Rada building, which should decide on a new parliament.

  • Action against Arsen Avakov

The new Minister of Defense, Rada elected a member of the Supervisory Board of Ukroboronprom, Andrei Zagorodniuk. He built his career in mining and manufacturing. After the conflict began in the east of Ukraine in 2014, he supported the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and his company supplied potbelly stoves and ambulances to the front.

And Vadim Priestayko, who was approved for the post of the Foreign Minister of Ukraine, said that the country's course in the EU and NATO is unchanged. At the same time, according to him, the new authorities will strive to ensure peaceful life in the Donbass.

“We will continue to think about the next steps to return people to a peaceful life, hold elections, amnesty, remove trade restrictions, restore full control over our borders,” Pristayko said, noting that Kiev has only six months to do this.

Vadim Priestayko has experience in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine - he has the rank of Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Envoy of the first class. From 2012 to 2014, he worked as ambassador to Canada, and from 2014 he became First Deputy Minister. From 2017 to this appointment, he led the Ukrainian mission to NATO.

The Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture was the Honorary President of the Kiev School of Economics Timofey Milovanov. The diplomat and former Ukrainian plenipotentiary to the Council of Europe, Dmitry Dmytro Kuleba, has been appointed vice premier for European integration.

In turn, deputy from the "Servant of the People" Mikhail Fedorov became deputy prime minister for digital transformation.

Oksana Markarova retained the post of Minister of Finance, the position of Minister of Education and Science went to the deputy from the party "Servant of the People" Anna Novosad. The Minister of Social Policy was the former adviser to the Ministry of Finance, Julia Sokolovskaya.

The head of the Ministry of Health was Zoryana Skaletskaya, who had previously worked in the commission for reforming the healthcare system of the Public Council under the Ministry of Health.

In addition, Denis Malyuka, who previously headed the board of the Office of Effective Regulation, was appointed Minister of Justice.

The basic principle of forming a government for Zelensky is the loyalty of the ministers, Andrei Suzdaltsev, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of World Economy and World Politics, believes.

“The first moment - there is a selection according to the level of devotion, this is the closest circle of Zelensky, which was formed during the campaign. They are believed to be his team. The question of competence is not worth it. Secondly, it is calculated that there will be expert support from Western countries, ”he told RT.

As a result of the fact that Zelensky now controls both the parliament and the government, the full responsibility for the decisions made lies with him, Bortnik emphasized.

“Zelensky today actually formed a government, now the responsibility for everything falls on him. He will not be able to blame either the Prime Minister, who will be technical, or the Verkhovna Rada or the “Servant of the people”. All responsibility lies with him and all stability of the political system will depend on his ratings, ”the analyst explained.

At the same time, Bortnik does not expect major changes in the policy of Kiev.

“There will be changes, but we should not expect any reversal. There will be new turns in economic and social policy and in general in politics, but I think that the course will remain approximately in the same direction that Ukraine has been following the last five years, ”the expert stated.

The party "Fatherland" RT expressed the opinion that Zelensky makes the same mistakes as Petro Poroshenko.

“I have a feeling of deja vu. Poroshenko invited technocrats, economists from different countries, and even Mikhail Saakashvili. But all these people do not have work experience, so they are unlikely to succeed. Goncharuk can be an excellent specialist who will not take bribes. But he simply cannot understand the essence of many “schemes”, he does not have enough political experience for global changes, ”the source said.

In his opinion, this post needed "a man with vast experience in public services and an iron character."

“But they don’t invite such people to the government,” RT interlocutor commented on the situation.