Yanukovych names Khoroshkovsky first deputy prime minister

President Viktor Yanukovych, according to a pair of announcements on his website yesterday, dismissed Valeriy Khoroshkovsky from the position of finance minister and named him the new first deputy prime minister – the second highest position in the Cabinet of Ministers. The new post was vacated last week when Yanukovych moved Andriy Klyuev to head up the National Security and Defense Council, a largely figurehead government body. Khoroshkovsky was finance minister for just over one month and before that head of the Security Service of Ukraine for three years.

Brad Wells: As with his appointment as finance minister, we relate this move as a continuation of Yanukovych’s policy of placing loyal followers in key government positions and at the same time sets Khoroshkovsky up as the frontrunner to succeed Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, who has been rumored to be close to resignation or dismissal for several months now. One of Ukraine’s richest men (est. net worth of USD 599 mln in 2011 according to Korrespondent) and relatively young at 43, Khoroshkovsky is no technocrat, but we also do not believe his “promotion” will bring with it a major change in the course of government policy as Yanukovych himself appears to be calling all of the shots at this point.