In the wide Soviet corridor on the third floor of the Presidential Office, there was recently an unexpected object for this space – a table tennis table, writes UP.
At one time, it was requested by the deputy heads of the OP Kirill Timoshenko and Yuri Kostyukto somehow relieve stress at the new job.
But if we take a broader view, table tennis is the title sport on Bankova during Zelensky’s time.
In addition to the aforementioned deputies of Andriy Yermak, the first assistant to the president, Serhiy Shefir, and the same head of the Servant of the People faction in the Rada, David Arakhamia, are also into it.
Plays ping-pong and is the curator of the power vertical from the OPU Tatarov Oleg Yurievich.
“Tatarov always attacks. He has a very aggressive style of play. He trains with a coach and when he gets to the table, he immediately drives his opponents into a deep defense.”“— one of Tatarov’s partners in the game admits in a conversation with UP.
This description of the behavior of Yermak’s deputy was repeated more than once during dozens of conversations between UP journalists and current and former politicians.
But references to Tatarov’s attacking style were not related to sports, but to his work for the President’s Office.
Since his appointment to Bankova in August 2020, Tatarov has immediately become Zelensky’s main “toxic asset.”
The President had to constantly make excuses for the deputy head of his Office, but for some reason the guarantor continues to hold firm held on to it.
Moreover, when NABU came to Bankova with suspicion of scandalous bribery case during Tatarov’s time at Ukrbud, the president’s entourage got the impression that Zelensky perceived this as an attempt to put pressure on himself personally, and not on Tatarov.
The case of the Deputy Head of the Office was buried then, but grateful Oleg Tatarov has since become Zelensky’s “faithful soldier.”
After almost three years on Bankova, Oleg Yuryevich managed to build a vertical power structure under the president that had been forgotten since the time of, perhaps, the late Kuchma, where almost all law enforcement agencies were under a single control center at once.
The level of influence and the scope of Tatarov’s knowledge have grown so much during this time that sometimes people in power begin to doubt who is really the second person in the country after the president.
How Tatarov managed to transform himself from a political exile of the Yanukovych era into a super-influential official in Zelensky’s office, how he found an antidote to conflicts with Andriy Yermak, and whether the concentration of power in his hands will become a threat to democracy in Ukraine, UP tried to find out.
Oleg Tatarov. A child prodigy in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and fatal briefings about Maidan
The name of Oleg Tatarov became known to the Ukrainian active public during the Revolution of Dignity. It was he, being the deputy head of the Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who often commented on behalf of the ministry events on the Maidan.
After the victory of the Revolution of Dignity, the new authorities and activists will remember Tatarov for his speeches. Given the outrageousness of the words spoken by Tatarov, he has become the personification of almost absolute evil. Everything that Yanukovych’s security forces did during the Revolution of Dignity has been concentrated in his person.
Although, to be fair, it should be said that the deputy chairman of the Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs himself did not participate in the crimes of “Berkut”. He was interrogated by Maidan investigators, but they did not find anything to incriminate him with. He was not even subject to lustration, because the position he occupied “did not reach” the minimum level.
The complaint about Tatarov’s actions during the Euromaidan is a value-based one. He was, and still is, flesh and blood of the police system. If he did not share the actions of the Berkut and Zakharchenko’s clique, then why did he keep coming out to these outrageous briefings?
From Oleg Tatarov’s speeches during the Revolution of Dignity:
“On January 22, 2014, in Kyiv, on Krepostnoy Lane, a group of people driving cars, pursuing four buses of law enforcement officers of the special police unit “Berkut”, blocked traffic. Using baseball bats, they struck the bus, broke the glass, and tried to inflict bodily harm on police officers. Their masks were also confiscated, which indicates not the peaceful nature of the action, but preparation for committing illegal actions. The attackers were disarmed by police officers, 18 people were taken to the internal affairs agencies. The investigation opened a criminal case on the fact of committing a criminal offense under Part 3, Article 296 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – hooliganism combined with resistance to police officers. Liability for which provides for up to 5 years of imprisonment.”
January 23, 2014.
“Police officers do not use firearms. Some of the dead have wounds to the back of the head, which makes it possible to claim that the shots were fired somewhere nearby by people who were together among the protesters“.
February 19, 2014
Also Tatarov justified storming of the Maidan on December 11, 2013 and assumed that the beating of the activist at that time Tatyana Chornovol could have been provocation. And after the hijacking of one of the leaders of “Automaidan” Dmitry Bulatov disclosed information that could discredit the victim, supposedly Bulatov bought an expensive laptop for money from donations.
If Tatarov did not share the lawlessness of Yanukovych and Co., then why didn’t he resign, like dozens of other decent security officials?
The answer to this question can be found by looking at Tatarov’s biography several years ago.
If we put aside the ill-fated briefings of the Maidan era, Oleg Tatarov’s professional path began as a model story about a child prodigy lawyer.
First, a guy from a poor family from the regional center of Novoukrainka in the Kirovograd region enters the Kharkov University of Internal Affairs.
But after a few years he finds himself in the capital and, what’s more, graduates from the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with honors. After that, Shevchenko University of Kiev – with honors. Candidate’s degree dissertation Tatarov defended his dissertation in 2007, when he was 25 years old. He received his Doctor of Science degree at 28.
In 2010, Oleg Tatarov moved from scientific work at the Academy of Internal Affairs to the position of a regular investigator at the Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. And just a year later (!) the then head of the Main Investigation Department and simultaneously deputy minister Anatoly Mogilev Vasily Farinnik made 29-year-old Tatarov his deputy.
It is interesting that right before his appointment, the young investigator actually wrote a report about transferring from the Main Investigation Directorate to some regions. As one of the employees of the department at that time told UP, Tatarov had a conflict with his immediate superior, General Vasily Topchiy.
“Farinnik thought for a day and fired Topchiy, and made Tatarov his deputy. He had friends at the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who gave recommendations to Tatarov”– one of Tatarov’s interlocutors tells UP off the record.
In the closed conservative structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, such a rapid career advancement in 2010 was possible either through “Donetsk connections,” which were nonexistent, or due to truly extraordinary abilities.
As people who know the situation in Farinnik’s structure at that time tell UP, Oleg Tatarov became his main “smart guy” who did almost all the “flow” under the head of the Main Investigation Directorate. It was from that time that he accumulated a mass of contacts in the system of internal organs.
During the same period, Tatarov participated in the development of a new Criminal Procedure Code, which would later be popularly called Portnov’s. But what is interesting is that during the work on the new Criminal Procedure Code, the acquaintance of the Deputy Chairman of the Main Investigative Directorate Tatarov and the Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Yanukovych Andriy Portnov did not take place.
They will meet later, when Portnov says on one of Shuster’s broadcasts that Tatarov needs to “work on his mental abilities.” The dispute was about Article 207 of the Criminal Procedure Code: how long it allows for detaining a person without a court decision after committing a crime.
“Tatarov said it was 6 o’clock. Portnov laughed at him on air, where Oleg wasn’t. So Tatarov went straight to Bankova, came to Portnov’s reception room and asked there: “Can we meet?” Portnov heard who had come and received him. Tatarov opened his PDA and proved to him that it was 6 o’clock.”,” one of the witnesses to that conversation told UP.
This story is quite symbolic in terms of understanding Tatarov’s development in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs during Yanukovych’s time: he was ready to knock on different doors, and behind them were people who heard him.
“Tatarov’s career was on the rise. And then Maidan happened, and the Interior Ministry was sitting and deciding who would go to the briefing. Everyone understood what kind of work it was and kept quiet. Finally, they sent the “young one” – Tatarov. And once he went, he had to go on and on.”says one of the interlocutors close to Yermak’s deputy in the current government.
Just before Euromaidan, Tatarov had a falling out with Nikolai Chinchin. The latter then became the head of the Main Investigative Directorate, replacing Farinnik in this position. The new boss, in order to get rid of the influence of his deputy, sent Tatarov to the information department.
“One evening, Zakharchenko called Tatarov and said: ‘Where do you live? A car is coming soon.’ Oleg asked where he should go. ‘You’ll go to Shuster, you have to speak.’ And so Tatarov became speaker.”– says another UP interlocutor, close to Tatarov.
In fact, the campaign for speaker due to the lawlessness that Zakharchenko’s team was committing destroyed Tatarov’s promising career in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Yanukovych and his people fled to Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism), and the deputy head of the Main Investigative Directorate remained in Ukraine: in general, he was not one of them. In terms of values - perhaps, but as a member of the team – no.
The influence of Maidan on Tatarov’s career can be clearly seen if we take into account his career colleagues and godmotheranother deputy head of the Main Investigative Directorate on the same days – Maxim Tsutskiridze.
They held the same positions at the same time, but Tsutskiridze managed to defend his dissertation after that and worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs until the “eternal” minister Arsen Avakov appointed him deputy head of the National Police. Instead, Avakov quickly fired Tatarov from the service immediately after the victory of Maidan.
The “exile” to the information department ruined Tatarov’s prospects, but, in fact, saved him from persecution after his dismissal: he did not sign any documents, and everything he said at briefings he did not come up with himself, but received as a vertical order.
Oleg Tatarov was not subject to lustration, but with such a public background, his chances of getting any government positions were zero.
In 2014, Kherson Governor Andrey Putilov will try to attach Tatarova is in her regional state administration. But she will receive such a wave of public indignation that she will soon abandon her idea.
The loss of his career and prospects for what he considered unfair accusations broke Tatarov. People who communicated with him describe his “before” and “after” as two very different people.
“Tatarov was really furiously offended, as they say, he ‘bite’ at all the so-called ‘orange’ people. He was not a good guy before, but after the Maidan he started to take revenge”“- says one of the interlocutors from political circles, who has long been familiar with the current deputy head of the OP.
The road to the camp of the revolution’s victors was closed to Tatarov, and he did not want to go to the camp of the losers. Therefore, the former security official tried to find some niche for himself in the middle, so to speak, on the collision line.
His former boss at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Farinnik, took his subordinate to his law firm in 2015, immediately as a managing partner. And so the firm “Tatarov Farinnik Golovko”, which would later be renamed “Credens”, became almost the main defender of the “regionals” in the courts.
After the Revolution of Dignity, the former rulers of life began to have problems with the courts, and the “regionals” could not trust their defense to someone they did not know.
“I didn’t know them personally, but their firm was recommended to me by people I trusted. At that time, Lutsenko, as the Prosecutor General, was initiating all sorts of cases against me, and Tatarov and I (as a lawyer – UP) have been there many times and on a committee in the Rada and during interrogations.
He is a very good lawyer, he grasps the essence on the fly, he knows how to put the investigator in his place, he gives very effective advice on procedures, and so on.”– recalls in a conversation with UP Tatarov’s former client Vadim Novinsky, who is now, not without the participation of his former defender, sanctions imposed National Security and Defense Council.
To understand what kind of environment Tatarov’s clients came from, one can recall that it was he who supported the affairs of the aforementioned odious Andrei Portnov or widows attacking Sergei Sternenko.
In addition, Tatarov got another rather “fishy” job – head of the legal department at Ukrbud. This formally state-owned company was in fact headed for many years by the capital’s developer and former deputy Maksym Mykytas.
“Construction is a huge shaft of constant legal work. Every day, thousands of cases: searches, permits, courts and re-trials. Especially for such huge companies as Ukrbud. Therefore, it is both a good school for a lawyer and a good income.”– one of the capital’s developers explains to UP.
Finally, by the end of Petro Poroshenko’s term, one could say that Tatarov’s affairs had settled down. But what should have ensured a peaceful old age brought only public problems.
The Era of New Faces of Tatarov
After Volodymyr Zelensky’s victory in 2019, new and often unknown people began to make their way to power at all levels. The Ze!team even had a separate project for this — “Elevator“.
In the spring of 2020, Tatarov managed to ride in this elevator to the fourth floor of the OPU, where the president’s office is located.
It was just at the beginning of March of that year that Oleg Tatarov graduated distance learning at the University of London and was supposed to fly to Britain for graduation on the 5th.
But on March 3, the secretary reported that he had received a call from the President’s Office asking him to come in. It all seemed like a joke, but it turned out to be true.
At that time, the era of the new ambitious head of the OP Andriy Yermak was beginning at Bankova. He managed to push Zelensky’s old friend out of his chair Andrey Bogdan and wanted to strengthen himself by appointing new, his own people.
However, at the first interview, Tatarov was not offered his current job.
“Oleg was asked what he saw as a possible place of work for himself. He immediately said that Avakov would not go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs because they would “set him up” there, give him an office and zero work. But he could try himself as a deputy in the Prosecutor General’s Office.”— one of the witnesses of that meeting with Zelensky tells UP off the record.
This prospect caused the then Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova to burst into righteous anger, declaring that “he is Yanukovych’s lawyer” and that she would not allow him to be appointed as her deputy.
Irina Valentinovna was so convincing that the idea of Tatarov’s campaign in the UCP was abandoned. And in August, Yermak decided to make him his deputy in power.
“Bohdan had one person supervising the judicial and law enforcement units – first Ruslan Ryaboshapka, and then Andrey Smirnov. Because these are two arms of one organism: if you separate them, they start competing and squabbling”– one of the members of the Ze! team close to Bogdan recalls in a conversation with UP.
In his public appearances Ermak explainedthat it was the personnel department of the Presidential Office that suggested that he hire a person from Yanukovych’s Ministry of Internal Affairs. When, during the preparation of the material, UP asked the head of the OPU who advised Tatarov, he could not remember.
However, the acquaintance of the head of Zelensky’s Office with Tatarov could have happened earlier. At least, they may be connected by one interesting episode.
Few people remember, but immediately after the appointment of the new head of the OPU in the spring of 2020, a scandal erupted, which the media called “Ermak films” The essence of the scandal was that the brother of the head of the OP Denis allegedly conducted negotiations about the employment of unnamed people in government agencies.
Ermak’s brother’s lawyer in this case was Ivan Kholondovichwhose services were also used by Andrey Portnov. And the scientific supervisor of Kholondovich’s PhD dissertation at the time was none other than Oleg Tatarov.
At first, the appointed deputy chairman of the OPU faced two tasks: to divide Smirnov’s influence and balance the power of the then head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Arsen Avakov. Zelensky’s entourage treated the minister with undisguised wariness and mistrust.
However, immediately after his appointment, the president’s team realized that Tatarov could be used as a specialist with a much broader profile.
For example, he was involved in preparing the election campaign for the local elections in the fall of 2020. The deputy chairman of the OPU for law enforcement checked whether potential candidates from Servant of the People had a criminal or media trail.
“The team immediately treated Oleg as a technocrat. Although terrible things were written about him in the media, he is given tasks at the table, and he carries them out with shame, without saying an unnecessary word to anyone.”– this is how one of Zelensky’s influential associates described Tatarov in the summer of 2020.
By the end of that year, the “technocrat” began to show his worth. At that time, the competition for the position of head of the State Bureau of Investigation ended, and he “won” Alexey Sukhachev. UP sources in various political forces and law enforcement agencies unanimously named Sukhachov protege Tatarova.
But Yermak’s deputy was not destined to rejoice at the new personnel horizons in December 2020. That month became the point of greatest tension in Tatarov’s new career.
On Friday, December 18, 2020, NABU investigators unexpectedly showed up at none other than the Presidential Office with a search and a ready suspicion for the deputy head of the OP.
As the investigators insisted, Tatarov could have been involved in the following while working at Ukrbud: transfer of a bribe expert to make a fake examination. It was supposed to save the head of the construction corporation from problems with law enforcement officers, and would give the expert almost a 100% discount on a parking space in Pechersk.
The scandal was loud, but only just. The attempt by NABU to take the curator of the security bloc at once showed how much weight he had gained in the system in six months of work. Without exaggeration, the entire security vertical joined the operation to save, if not the reputation, then the safety of Tatarov.
By decision of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the case was taken away from NABU. The investigation was transferred to the SBU, where it was successfully marinated until the end of 2021. And just before the Christmas tree of that year, the Shevchenkivskyi District Court ordered the OGP close the case Tatarova, due to the “expiration of the investigation period.”
The deputy head of the OP retained his post. But it was difficult to say the same about the president’s face before society and foreign partners.
After this, Tatarov disappeared from public space. But his influence only grew stronger.
In the summer of 2021, Arsen Avakov finally lost his ministerial seatThen Zelensky decided to appoint the now deceased Denis Monastyrsky to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The same Tatarov played an important shadow function in that story. It was he who managed the dismissal of Avakov, who expelled him from the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 2014.
It is Tatarov who, through his connections in the system, must become an anchor for all groups of influence while the new leadership figures out how to work.
Before his appointment, Monastyrsky was the head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement, but he clearly lacked the experience to lead the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Instead, Tatarov knew the entire top brass of the department, and they, accordingly, knew him.
“Oleg, in fact, once managed the entire investigation in the Ministry of Internal Affairs – he knew how this machine worked. And the moment when he helped intercept the Ministry of Internal Affairs from Avakov and did not allow this system to work against the Office – this is, perhaps, one of the things for which Zelensky really appreciated Tatarov”– one of the top officials of the current government says off the record.
It was precisely with these abilities to quickly integrate into systems, integrate his people and at the same time control sensitive processes that Tatarov quietly and purposefully expanded his influence over almost the entire law enforcement system in the country. Almost?
Oleg Tatarov in power: master of daddies and lord of bad news
During the full-scale war, Ukrainian security forces received very broad powers and maximum trust from society.
Trust of Ukrainians increased Not only in the Armed Forces, but also such structures as the Security Services or the National Police have unprecedented support rates.
It is obvious that with the growth of the influence of the security forces, the influence of the one who “coordinates” them has also increased proportionally.
“At the beginning of the full-scale war, there were still some people who balanced Oleg. For example, he could not command Bakanov, because he was a friend of Zelensky. He could not pressure Venediktova to sign something, because she was wary of him. Monastyrsky, although he was completely the president’s man, had his own opinion.”a high-ranking source in one of the law enforcement agencies tells UP.
“But after the resignations of Bakanov and Venediktova and the death of Monastyrsky, Tatarov became almost all-powerful.”— the source adds.
“Never in the history of Ukraine has there been such an influential person. Different security agencies have always focused on different groups of influence. And now everyone is inscribed in one vertical of power under Tatarov: the investigation, the oversight, and partly the courts – everything that exists”— adds another UP interlocutor from the Cabinet of Ministers.
During the time when Venediktova headed the Prosecutor General’s Office, she was credited with a joke about the influence of Tatarov and his former employer Portnov: there was the Tatar-Mongol yoke, and now the Tatar-Portnov yoke has arrived.
Currently, the deputy chairman of the OPU ensures the “coordination” of law enforcement agencies, in particular, by placing his people in positions at different levels.
Thus, according to the UP, the following are taking their cues from the deputy chairman of the OPU:
- Director of the State Bureau of Investigation Alexey Sukhachev;
- Deputy Director of the Bureau of Economic Security Vitaly Gagach;
- Head of the Main Directorate for Counterintelligence Protection of Critical Infrastructure Facilities and Countering the Financing of Terrorism of the Security Service of Ukraine, Artem Shilo;
- Deputy Chairman of the National Police Maksim Tsutskiridze;
- Acting Head of the National Police Ivan Vyhovsky.
“It is often mistakenly said that the Baby (Chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine – UP) — from Tatarov. This is not quite true. Vasya is conceptually guilty of Oleg, because Tatarov helped him become the head of the SBU. But the president chose Vasya, he looked at him for a long time.
As for the Prosecutor General, Kostin is Yermak’s man. Andrey simply switched Kostin to work with Oleg”— an influential source from the team of the head of the President’s Office explains to UP.
It is difficult to call Tatarov and the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Igor Klimenko a person. He obviously has his own weight in the system and is developing his team in the ministry. But in a built system of power, where there is one decision-making center, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs must still “coordinate” with the relevant deputy head of the OP. As well as the management of ARMA (Asset Search and Management Agency), customs, etc.
Also, according to the UP, the deputy chairman of the OPU has quite “working” connections with several judges. For example, we are talking about the chairman of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv Ruslan Kozlov and the chairman of the Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv Yevgeny Martynov.
The question remains open as to whether Yermak’s deputy has any influence on the newly created anti-corruption bodies.
“You see, the new head of NABU Krivonos or his deputy Uglava, to put it mildly, can hardly be called Tatarov’s people. But Oleg does not need to put his own people there, so as not to create a scandal with international partners. It is enough for him to recruit someone inside to receive information about cases and searches in advance,” explains an influential source involved in the creation of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.
The same applies to the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. The deputy head of the SAP is Andrey Sinyuk, who, according to the UP, is friends with Alexey Simonenko.
The same one who at one time took Tatarov’s case to NABU and whom UP later recorded in the circle of friends on birthday power deputy head of the OP. But no direct evidence of “cooperation” between the aforementioned characters and Tatarov has yet been recorded.
However, even with such an insane concentration of power in Zelensky’s team, they advise not to look at Tatarov as something extraordinary.
“You are demonizing Oleg in vain. Yes, he has a lot of powers, but they are not his powers. He himself is part of the vertical. Everything he has belongs to Zelensky. Tatarov is a function. It would be strange if someone in such a position at such a time was not super influential.”“—one of the members of the presidential team shrugs.
Another source in Zelensky’s team explains that the president has become noticeably emotionally exhausted during the war. He is not demanding long, legally correct but complicated schemes, but quick and tougher decisions.
Tatarov knows how to find simple solutions for the president that give an immediate effect. Although very often they have a questionable prospect: this was the case even before the war with detention Petro Poroshenko, this is how it continued during the war with the cases of Kolomoisky and Pavelko.
And therefore, although all businesses complain about the State Bureau of Investigation or the Bureau of Economic Security, Zelensky sees these structures as the only ones putting pressure on Kolomoisky and Firtash.
Meanwhile, Yermak’s deputy is extremely careful and unnoticeable. He tries not to hold any meetings outside the OPU, uses a used Mercedes, and travels almost exclusively between home and work.
Moreover, he does this not only to avoid the attention of journalists, but also to avoid receiving unnecessary questions from management.
“Tatarov has absolutely clearly understood how Zelensky’s government works, what Yermak reacts to. He has accepted these rules and plays by them. That is why he is as non-public and executive as possible.”– one of the members of the Zelensky team explains to UP.
As they say in the Office, even when Zelensky directly sets some task to Tatarov, he immediately reports it to Yermak. And when the task is completed, Oleg Yuryevich reports first to Andrey Borisovich, and he decides who will report the news to Vladimir Alexandrovich: Yermak himself or Tatarov.
However, despite such apparent asceticism, Tatarov’s position actually resembles the role of a Maybach driver: the owner’s business is a priority, but when it is done, the driver can go to an expensive car to solve his own problems.
“Oleg has learned to operate with what he has very well. For example, some 20 cases are opened against you or your department. You come to Tatarov, and he says: “It wasn’t me. What a bastard, I’ll solve everything, don’t worry.” And he really does solve it. But you know that he opened the case with one hand, closed it with the other, and you are already guilty to him as a savior.”“- one of the officials says in a conversation with UP.
In general, Tatarov’s functions in Zelensky’s team are quite broad: from monitoring various criminal cases to collecting “folders” on potential and current team members, opponents, military personnel, etc.
“Tatarov has another function – to bring bad news before others find out about it. For example, here is some governor, and he can become a problem. Tatarov brings a folder, Zelensky gives the go-ahead to remove the governor, and then the security forces come for him.” But when the official is no longer a member of the team”says a source close to the president.
“On the other hand, it is Oleg who is responsible for ensuring that his people are not torn apart by the security forces. He will simply help someone, and someone else”will recommend“lawyers and so on. Like we’ll film you, but we won’t let you undress. And people are grateful for that”— adds the interlocutor.
With such a huge influence, Tatars are a very important tool for the Office to “keep up the tone”, in particular for their own. UP has already wrotethat as of early spring 2023, more than 100 people’s deputies from different factions were involved in cases in various law enforcement agencies.
However, the work of Yermak’s security deputy team can be considered effective only partially. At least, this is what one of the representatives of the previous government, who currently has several cases against him in Ukraine, convinces “Ukrainska Pravda”.
“I look at our cases. There is little jurisprudence there. They have resources and they try to use them. There is more bending over the knee than sophisticated legal work. That is why there are so many cases for everyone, and so few people have real problems in court.”“, explains our interlocutor from the “former”.
A relatively new area to which Zelensky has begun to involve Tatarov in recent months is personnel issues, especially in the regions.
As UP’s interlocutors in power convince us, Tatarov helped select several recently appointed heads of military administrations. We are talking about the heads of the military state administrations in the Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv regions.
***
The figure of Oleg Tatarov is one of the most controversial in the current top Ukrainian government.
The enormous influence on the power bloc concentrated in his hands alarms many political and business players both inside and outside the country.
It is clear that there is an unspoken agreement among foreign partners not to push internal Ukrainian sensitive issues while the country fights for its independence from the Russian aggressor.
“We met with Biden at the G7, and, you know, he didn’t mention the name Tatarov,” one of the key members of Zelensky’s team once answered half-jokingly to UP’s question about whether the information about possible Western sanctions against the deputy head of the OP was true.
But, as UP sources in government and diplomatic circles convince us, Biden is the last one who has not yet mentioned this name.
Roman Romanyuk, Roman Kravets, translation Skeleton.Info
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