MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. A majority of Ukrainians see Vladimir Zelensky as culpable for the corrupt actions of businessman Timur Mindich, a survey conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) showed.
The study was carried out from November 26 to December 13 by phone on the territory controlled by Kiev. Calls were made to 1,000 people over 18.
"Among those who know about the investigation, 59% believe that [Zelensky] is personally responsible for the corrupt actions of Timur Mindich, co-owner of Kvartal 95 studio," KIIS said.
On November 10, Ukraine's anti-corruption authorities carried out a large-scale operation to uncover a major corruption scheme in the energy sector. Mindich, who is called Zelensky's "wallet," was the mastermind of the scheme. Raids were conducted at the residences of Mindich, Justice Minister German Galushchenko, who was later dismissed, and the premises of the Energoatom company. According to the investigation, the participants of the criminal scheme laundered at least $100 million. Later, fragments of recordings of conversations in Mindich's apartment were published, in which corruption schemes were discussed. There are 1,000 hours of tapes in total.
On November 17, reports appeared that the then head of Zelensky's office Andrey Yermak might appear on the recordings under the pseudonym Ali Baba. The corruption scandal triggered a deep crisis of the Ukrainian government - the work of parliament was blocked for some time, and some deputies, including from the ruling Servant of the People party, demanded Yermak's resignation. On November 28, his apartment was searched, and on the same day Zelensky fired him.