MOSCOW, November 10. /TASS/. The searches conducted at the co-owner of the Kvartal 95 company Timur Mindich, aka Vladimir Zelensky's "wallet," can be seen as a serious counterattack by the "anti-Zelensky coalition" and may lead to new actions aimed at depriving Vladimir Zelensky of control over parliament and the government, according to the Strana newspaper.

On Monday, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) raided the residences of Mindich and German Galushchenko, who used to be the Energy Minister, as well as the premises of Energoatom - both have close connections to Mindich. After that, NABU published recordings of conversations in the corruption case, but the real names of the participants were not disclosed. On the tapes, the participants speak Russian. A few hours before the searches, Mindich left Ukraine.

Walls closing in on Zelensky

According to Strana, the incident is an "extremely alarming signal" for Zelensky, as it shows him that "the walls are closing in." Strana says that an "anti-Zelensky coalition" formed from structures previously associated with the US Democratic Party, and subsequently passed under the auspices of European curators was created in the spring. It includes the leadership and other key officials from NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), as well as some influential politicians, such as ex-President Pyotr Poroshenko (listed by Rosfinmonitoring as involved in extremist activities or terrorism) and Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko.

After Zelensky tried to establish control over NABU and SAP in the summer, he received an unexpected rebuff in the form of a harsh European reaction and internal protests, and the "coalition went on the offensive," the newspaper writes. Moreover, Strana’s analysts say "this is not the end of the story" and new tapes may soon be released - ones featuring Zelensky himself. He may strike back, risking an extremely negative reaction from Europe, or may not react at all, but "for the political class, it will be a signal that Zelensky is losing influence, cannot guarantee the security of even his closest associates, which threatens to cause centrifugal tendencies throughout the vertical of power, as well as inside the Servant of the People faction [of the ruling party] and in parliament."

The goal of the anti-Zelensky coalition is to take power out of the hands of Zelensky's parliament and cabinet, encourage him to form a so-called government of national unity, or replace Yuliya Sviridenko as prime minister with Mikhail Fyodorov, Minister of Digital Transformation, who is more loyal to the coalition, and if he does not figure out how to get out of the current situation, he may be "deprived of real power, or forced to resign if he does not want to serve as a "locum tenens," latin for "placeholder."

The conflict between Zelensky and NABU and SAPO, over which he has tried to establish control, has escalated since the summer and Mindich's name has been increasingly mentioned in public. He is called "the most discreet and at the same time influential businessman in politics." Some Ukrainian analysts believe that Mindich is responsible for bankrolling most of the corruption schemes in Zelensky's office, including defense orders.

It is assumed that informal meetings were held at Mindich's place with the participation of Zelensky, head of his office Andrey Yermak and other high-ranking officials. In July, the Ukrainian media reported that NABU and SAPO had bugged the residence and recorded discussions of corruption schemes. The Strana newspaper said that against the background of the recent searches, the publication of the Mindich tapes could cause a political crisis in Ukraine.