MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. The scandal over the possible resignation of the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Valery Zaluzhny, could be a preventive measure by the former president Pyotr Poroshenko, which will eventually delay the resignation itself, if the current head of state Vladimir Zelensky, was really planning it, Alexander Dudchak, a leading researcher at the Institute of CIS countries and an expert of the Other Ukraine movement, has told TASS.
"Apparently, these are preventive measures taken by Poroshenko, who works in tandem with Zaluzhny. They belong to the same camp controlled by Washington, unlike Zelensky, who with his office is in the zone of London’s influence. These measures have worked. Even if Zelensky had plans to dismiss Zaluzhny, it is more difficult to do it now: after all, the row was quite serious, and the Americans took appropriate measures. Now it is unlikely, at least in the next few days, that he will really resign," the expert said.
On Monday, former Verkhovna Rada member Borislav Beryoza said that Zaluzhny had been removed from the post of the armed forces’ commander-in-chief. For his part, Verkhovna Rada member Alexey Goncharenko (listed as a terrorist and extremist by the Russian financial watchdog) said that two of his sources confirmed this. He later said that Zaluzhny had been notified of his resignation, but there was no corresponding decree yet. According to the lawmaker, Zaluzhny was offered the post of ambassador to a European country, but rejected it.
The media then said that the decree regarding Zaluzhny had already been signed and that the chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Kirill Budanov, would be appointed instead. Also, some Telegram channels reported the resignation of Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. The Defense Ministry dismissed this as false. However, this raised questions in the media whether the ministry denied the resignation of both the minister and the commander-in-chief or just Umerov. The Ukrainian presidential spokesman, Sergey Nikiforov, then said that Zelensky had not fired Zaluzhny.