The so-called Operation Midas, the macro-investigation undertaken for more than a year by the two main anti-corruption organizations in Ukraine, has taken out this past Friday the second most important figure in the country’s Government: , whose forced resignation was vindicated in a way by his only superior, the president, as a clear example that Ukraine, in parallel to its war effort, is meeting the expectations placed by the European Union (EU) with a view to a , key to consolidating its economic security in a post-war scenario with Russia.
From another point of view, however, Yermak’s resignation is the latest episode in a long tug-of-war between kyiv and Brussels, which this past summer had to use a strong hand so that Zelensky did not interfere in the work of the two agencies: , whose creation was one of the requirements established by the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Ukraine’s visa liberalization with the EU.
Proof of this was when, in July, Zelensky was forced to rectify a law to limit the powers of both organizations. The president used as an argument that he was trying to eliminate the leak of pro-Russian elements in both organizations. Brussels did not buy his version and proceeded to paralyze 1.7 billion euros in aid.
Zelensky, also beset by the most intense street protests since the beginning of the war with Russia in response to the hasty approval of the law, ended up backing down, publicly committed to the successful completion of a comprehensive package of anti-corruption reforms.
In times of war
But Ukraine is at war and Yermak’s resignation could not have come at a worse time for Zelensky because, in addition to his advisor, he has lost his chief negotiator when he has before him a peace proposal, negotiated between Washington and Moscow, very difficult to digest because in exchange for security guarantees from the Western powers.
Brussels is trying to get its head into this process, where nothing is certain yet, and this latest scandal represents friction that does not suit either Ukraine or the EU. kyiv would lose its great European partner, and Brussels would see Ukraine left in no man’s land, precisely the germ of the current battle.
“Our relationship with the Ukrainian authorities is quite honest as far as the requirements are concerned,” European Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath said in a recent interview with . “All countries that join the European Union have to meet a legal standard. Otherwise, they will not receive any type of support in their accession process,” he warned, before clarifying that the anti-corruption reform process in Ukraine is “a journey” and that kyiv is making “the best possible efforts.”
The fact is that Operation Midas has not ended and remains closely linked to a particularly sensitive issue in Ukraine such as its energy reserve, essential before the arrival of winter in time of war.
The investigation refers to large-scale bribery in Ukraine’s energy sector during the Russo-Ukrainian war in a network led by someone who was a very close ally of the president of Ukraine: co-owner of Kvartal 95, a production company founded by Zelensky before becoming the country’s leader. Mindich, according to the investigation, served as the head of a network that collected bribes from contractors of Energoatom, the main state operator of the country’s nuclear plants.
Specifically, and as reported by NABU at the time, this scheme laundered funds worth approximately 90 million euros. As Zelensky’s number two, Yermak had close ties with some of those involved: the now resigned Ukrainian Ministers of Energy and Justice, Svitlana Grinchuk and Herman Galushchenko. Mindich left the country on November 9, just hours before the NABU entered his home to search him, according to sources from the .
“Today is not the time for anyone to doubt Ukraine”
Volodymyr Zelensky
“Today is not the time for anyone to doubt Ukraine,” Zelensky proclaimed hours after Yermak’s resignation. The president has assured that he is currently promoting another new comprehensive reform, that of the structure of contract concessions in the energy system, to continue clearing up Brussels’ doubts. Yermak, for his part, has claimed his innocence and assured that his first decision, he explained to the American newspaper is to “go to the front” so that their war effort can finish clearing a name that “has been desecrated.”
The crisis has no end in sight at the moment and the war with Russia, once again, conditions everything: one of the accused in the current scandal is a former advisor to the long-time director of Energoatom, Andrei Derkach, now a defector and a member of the upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council. Such is the suspicion of the Russian shadow that three opposition factions in parliament – representatives of the European Solidarity, Holos and Patria parties – are directly demanding the resignation of the entire Government and its replacement by a cabinet of “national unity” with the participation of the opposition.
They demanded Yermak’s resignation at the time and won, as the experts from the Zelensky team recall. All that remains is for Zelensky, as these experts also point out, for the president’s own party, Servant of the People, to be prepared to support these demands, in what could be an already unsustainable blow for the president, on the eve of a new and very harsh winter.
