Four months in defense: Zelensky fired Danilyuk from the post of secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine

On Monday, September 30, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky signed a statement on the resignation of Alexander Danilyuk from the post of Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council. The corresponding decree is published on the website of the Ukrainian leader.

“To dismiss Danilyuk Alexander Alexandrovich from the post of Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine,” the document says.

On Friday, September 27, the Ukrainian leader’s office reported that a resignation letter had been submitted before Zelensky’s departure to the United States to attend the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in New York. It was indicated that the president of Ukraine would decide on his return to Kiev.

Danilyuk held his post from May 28, 2019, replacing Alexander Turchinov. At the same time, on June 19, he was also appointed head of the National Cybersecurity Coordination Center.

Note that the 44-year-old official worked in the Ukrainian government during the presidency of Petro Poroshenko. He was his permanent representative in the Cabinet, then - the deputy head of the administration, and then he was appointed to the post of Minister of Finance, leaving this post in the summer of 2018.

• Alexander Danilyuk
• globallookpress.com
• © Sergii Kharchenko / ZUMAPRESS.com

According to RT in the party "Servant of the People", Danilyuk, who was an adviser to Zelensky during the election campaign, is in conflict with the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Bogdan.

“Danilyuk wanted to become the ambassador of Ukraine to the USA, he was ready to head the ministry of economy or even the government. Therefore, the position of Secretary of the National Security Council (NSDC) did not please him at all. Danilyuk hoped that he would be thanked for helping Zelensky in his election campaign, but this did not happen. Therefore, the NSDC secretary went all-in and wrote a letter of resignation, and unexpectedly for all Zelensky signed it, ”the source said.

Meanwhile, the Golos party believes that Daniluk’s resignation could lead to unrest in Zelensky’s team.

“Everyone understood that help and friendship with Zelensky did not guarantee anything. Obviously, the president is being influenced. This is not like the Western partners and activists who demand the dismissal of Andrei Bogdan from the post of head of the president’s office. A split may occur among Zelensky’s entourage, ”RT said.

A similar point of view was expressed by the representative of the "Fatherland". According to the source, Zelensky is strongly influenced by the team of Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky.

“It is known that Daniluka does not like Igor Kolomoisky. And at first they put him on a position meaningless for him as an economist, and then they simply dismiss him, ”the source explained in an interview with RT.

We add that on September 30, Danilyuk, together with Zelensky and the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov, visited the training center of the National Guard of Ukraine, which is located in the village of Stary.

• Alexander Danilyuk (leftmost), Arsen Avakov and Vladimir Zelensky at the National Guard in the village of Stary
• © Press Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine

"Inevitable internal contradictions"

According to the Ukrainian political scientist and economist Alexander Dudchak, the dismissal of Danilyuk is a normal occurrence in the current political realities of the country. According to him, such a situation was inevitable.

“A lot of people are now in power and contradictions are inevitable, the public is very motley. That is, this is the internal contradictions that will manifest themselves in the future, and the desire of the authorities to show that they are not doing anything to avoid more serious failures. In addition, they need to demonstrate some kind of rearrangement in power, to show changes. Of course, the current government understands that the failures are more serious than they expected. They thought that now they could demonstrate some pathos events involving Zelensky, but this does not happen, ”the expert said in a conversation with RT.

In turn, an expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies, Vladimir Bruter, pointed to another possible aspect of Daniluk’s resignation.

“This is also due to the fact that he is mentioned in documents, according to which previous authorities contacted the US administration regarding the persecution of Biden Jr. He worked in the previous administration at that time. I think that this reason takes place, at least formally, ”he stressed.

The expert called the ex-head of the Ministry of Finance a qualified economist, but noted that Danilyuk is older than many representatives of the Zelensky team and belongs to a slightly different generation of Ukrainian politicians.

“Apparently, he became completely alien in this power. In the end, the disagreements became so significant that he considered it good for him to leave and this was maintained, since the contact between him and the other happiness of Zelensky’s team began to become weaker and more intense, ”Bruter said in an interview with RT.