Cabinet fills ministry vacancies

Ukraine’s cabinet has appointed its latest minister
posts that were left vacant following last week’s reshuffle. On March 11, the
acting energy and environmental defense minister became Vitaliy Shubin, who had
served as first deputy. Prior to joining the cabinet, Shubin served as the
director of the Dnipro-Buzka wind power plant in the Kherson region. Between
2011 and 2014, he worked an as executive for two companies of DTEK, a holding
company that is controlled by billionaire Rinat Akhmetov. Pavlo Kukhta, the
deputy economy minister, was appointed acting minister on March 10. Kukhta is a
longtime advocate of a farmland market. He has called for the privatization of
thousands of inefficient state enterprises to leave only 200.

Zenon Zawada: Observers
are already declaring Akhmetov’s growing influence in the cabinet, simply
because his former executives are suddenly cropping up (first Prime Minister
Denys Shmyhal, and now Shubin). But we don’t buy into the notion that a former
executive is beholden to a particular oligarch, particularly when there are
hundreds of such people. Kolomoisky remains the most favored oligarch with the
cabinet reshuffle.

As for Kukhta, his appointment is confirmation that
the farmland market remains on the president’s agenda. That’s especially the
case after President Zelensky issued a March 10 statement announcing the
farmland market to be his responsibility. This isn’t compatible with the
assertion made by outgoing economy minister Tymofiy Mylovanov that the cabinet
reshuffle involves “conceptual and multilayered changes,”
away from his commitment to free markets and minimum government interference.

Considering Zelensky’s embrace of short-term
populist policies with his cabinet reshuffle last week, he is risking much
political capital to go forward with this farmland market, which is highly
unpopular with the public. He can overcome the negative fallout from the
farmland market if he reaches a peace deal on Donbas.