Ukraine Economy minister resigns

Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius told journalists on Feb. 3 that he had decided to resign. He explained his decision as “prompted by the blockage of systematically important reforms in Ukraine”. He said he has no intention “of being a controlled puppet for those who want to control state funds, in the style of the old government”. He specifically accused Ihor Kononenko, a close friend of President Petro Poroshenko and deputy head of  the president’s faction in the Rada. “During the last month, he did a lot to block my work and the work of my ministry,”  Abromavicius said.

In a comment to Interfax-Ukraine, Kononenko said that Abromavicius’s  statement was an attempt to cast the blame on pro-president MPs for all the failures of the Ministry.

Alexander Paraschiy: Clearly, there is nothing positive about resignation of Abromavicius, a former fund manager and pro-western person who had broad international support. His statement on deep corruption among the pro-president elite, even without any proof, is a big image loss for the entire Ukrainian government.