Cabinet dismisses Ukrainian Railways CEO

Ukraine’s Cabinet approved the dismissal of Yevhen
Kravtsov from the position of CEO of Ukrainian Railways (RAILUA), PM Oleksiy
Honcharuk told journalists after the weekly Cabinet meeting on Jan. 29. He
added that the government will soon announce a competition for the company’s
new CEO.

Commenting on the event, Kravtsov wrote on social
media that the contract with him was terminated early by the supervisory board
on Jan. 28. He highlighted that there were no formal reasons for his dismissal,
as he met “almost all the KPIs.” For that reason, he was dismissed with a large
compensation, Kravtsov wrote. The compensation could amount to his annual
salary, which is more than UAH 9 mln, the epravda.com.ua news site wrote.

Alexander Paraschiy: Kravtsov’s
dismissal seems to have occurred solely for political reasons, given the
company’s improved operating and financial results under his management. That
suggests he was not able to find common ground with the new infrastructure
minister. It’s for that very reason that the previous CEO, Wojciech Balczun, was dismissed in August 2017
and replaced by the more loyal Kravtsov.

Kravtsov’s appointment in 2017 resulted in the
company’s constructive cooperation with the ministry, enabling the adoption of
important regulatory changes that benefited Ukrainian Railways. Hopefully, the
new CEO will continue the internal reforms and will be able to promote further
regulatory changes to the company’s benefit.

So far, we believe the news is neutral for the
company, with the resulting risks and opportunities being balanced.