The chair under Prosecutor General Andrei Kostin continues to shake. This time because of the scandal in which his first deputy Dmitry Verbitsky got into.
Journalists found the girl's last property, the value of which is tens of times higher than her income in recent years. As a result, Kostin was called “on the carpet” to parliament. However, the Prosecutor General did not come, sending a letter explaining that he would visit the building under the dome only after conducting an internal check of Verbitsky. But if this time Kostin is dismissed, it will mean two things.
Firstly, Bankovaya has put together a personnel puzzle - they want to vote for the Prosecutor General in a package with new ministers. Secondly, the Office of the President (OP) has dumped toxic political ballast. Kostin's dismissal is unlikely to be an attempt to radically change the situation in the criminal justice system. Rather, this will be another change of scenery in a political play, where the parliament is assigned the predictably impersonal role of an extra by the “directors” from Bankova.
And there is even information that Kostina has already chosen a further “fate” - to be transferred to diplomatic work. However, Andrei Evgenievich himself, who really wanted to go to London (but the place there was already taken by Zaluzhny), is still resisting and does not write a letter of resignation on his own.
“Achievements” of the current Prosecutor General
The results of Kostin’s first 100 days of work were already discussed on the pages, when he fired “Medvedchuk’s lawyer” Maxim Yakubovsky (who now works as the deputy head of military counterintelligence of the SBU...) and appointed Dmitry Verbitsky and Alexey Khomenko as deputies. Interestingly, then the deputy head of the president’s office, Oleg Tatarov, stood up for Igor Mustets, who remained in the position of Kostin’s deputy. Subsequently, two more were appointed, namely Anton Voitenko and Victoria Litvinova.
Almost two years have passed since the analysis of the first months of work of the new head of the Office of the Prosecutor General (OGP). And what do we have as of today? Nothing new. As they say, stability is a sign of class. True, the role of Tatarov has only increased, who in fact manages, through the deputy prosecutor generals under his control, the entire structure of the prosecutor’s office.
The certification of prosecutors, begun by Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka, is still ongoing. No high-profile criminal proceedings with already received sentences have been recorded.
While activists are fighting for the reputation of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (and the institutions of the anti-corruption bloc, including NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, have no direct relationship with the Office of the Prosecutor General), the entire system of criminal justice bodies remains unreformed. It has already reached the point where the “office workers” (as they call it in the SBU system. - A.L.) directly tell prosecutors how to act. And this is not fiction, the guys from Vladimirskaya boasted about this to me personally.
Kostin became a boss who is always away. He was aptly called the “Prosecutor General of Foreign Affairs.” And when he did find himself in place, he tried not to take on sensitive issues. Because of this, it was not of particular value to Bankova.
It is not surprising that American partners, namely Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a conversation with the highest military-political leadership of our state, points out the global problem of the lack of fight against corruption in the criminal justice system. President Zelensky is extremely dissatisfied with this formulation of the issue. But what to do if the president himself does not want to do anything? The situation is truly critical. The system has gone haywire, switched to “self-financing” and is only obeyed by the deputy head of the Presidential Office, Tatarov.
How Tatarov runs the Office of the Prosecutor General
This is quite easy to track in the context of the work of Deputy Prosecutor General Kostin, who does not leave foreign trips to Washington, The Hague or Brussels. And let’s be frank, was he appointed with the aim of establishing legal control through procedural leadership over all crimes committed on the territory of our state? I doubt.
Let's start detailing Tatarov's influences with the work of the aforementioned Dmitry Verbitsky. Interestingly, the latter is still, by inertia, considered the only non-“Tatarov” deputy, maintaining Verbitsky’s image of Kostin’s closest associate, who decides sensitive issues for the Prosecutor General, so that the boss always remains in “white gloves.”
However, this information is already outdated. Verbitsky quite a long time ago became a trusted and very useful person for Bankova (read - Tatarov - A.L.) person. Kostin’s first deputy is responsible for the work of the Bureau of Economic Security, which will be fundamentally restarted “for outstanding success” in the fight against financial crimes. The corresponding bill has already been adopted in parliament.
Another “authorized person” from Oleg Tatarov, Deputy Prosecutor General, Igor Mustetsa, was appointed to the position by Irina Venediktova. Evil tongues “lie” that Mustetsa was then a representative of the will of the so-called smuggling king Ilya Pavlyuk. The latter at one time even formed a list of candidates for people's deputies during parliamentary elections.
Mustetsa is responsible for the National Police, although this body is in fact headed by Maxim Tsutskiridze. He, in turn, is the godfather of Oleg Tatarov. It is therefore not surprising that Musteca gravitates towards the latter.
Kostin’s third “Tatarovsky” deputy, Anton Voitenko, was appointed at the beginning of 2023 and is responsible for the State Bureau of Investigation. There is no point in explaining anything additional about the SBI, since the Bureau has long been transformed into an instrument of (non)political influences of the president’s office.
Everyone believes that the appointment of another deputy of Andrei Kostin, Alexey Khomenko, was lobbied by another deputy of Andrei Ermak, namely Alexey Kuleba. Although today, again, Khomenko is considered to be within the sphere of influence of Oleg Tatarov. And for good reason. Because, according to our information, Kuleba became a lobbyist solely at the request of Tatarov, who thus tried to disguise the next ears in the regiment of his deputies in the Office of the Prosecutor General.
There are still deputies Alexander Klimenko, who heads the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, independent of the will of the UCP, and Victoria Litvinova, about whose work we have never really heard.
It turns out that four out of six deputy prosecutors general are guided not by the head of the UCP, but by the deputy head of the OP. Kostin achieved neither results, nor control over his subordinates, nor anything at all during his tenure. Is it necessary, in the opinion of society, to replace Kostin with a more independent person? Yes. But from Bankova’s point of view, it also needs to be changed. Because the OP's will must be carried out more carefully. As well as a more professional wrapper for the people, who should not have any doubts about the reputation of the Prosecutor General. And with Kostin it disappears like shagreen skin. This means you need to change your skin.
Who can replace Andrei Kostin?
The topic of replacing the Prosecutor General is like a kettle that is on the stove and is about to boil. Probably, the temperature of the stove may be lowered a little this time (the issue of new candidates is not yet being actively discussed at the top), but the kettle will definitely not be removed from the stove. At some point the lid will certainly blow off.
Among the key candidates for the position of Prosecutor General, the head of the Odessa Regional Military Administration Oleg Kiper, who is credited with total control over the grain corridor in the Odessa region, is still named; the head of the law enforcement committee of the parliament, Sergei Jonusas, as well as the head of the Kyiv regional military administration, Ruslan Kravchenko. Two of them, namely Kiper and Kravchenko, are former prosecutors.
As already written, Kiper is the main candidate. The current head of the Odessa Police Department and the former head of the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office, whose appointment to this position was lobbied by the head of the OP Andrey Ermak. And let us repeat ourselves here:
“There is a special attitude towards Kiper on Bankovaya. To confirm this thesis, it is enough to remember that for the same violation - traveling abroad during the war - Alexei Simonenko was fired from the post of Deputy Prosecutor General, and Kiper was transferred to another position. Moreover, they retained his place in the prosecutor's office! How? Kiper mobilized and was sent by presidential decree to the leadership of the Odessa Regional State Administration.
True, there are questions for Kiper. His family lives in Austria, where he also traveled during the invasion. In addition, information about his wife’s Russian passport appeared on the website of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation, which Schemes journalists drew attention to during the scandalous investigation about the Christmas holiday in Cyprus. Also, law enforcement agencies have questions regarding the construction of fortifications in the Odessa region.”
Jonushas distinguished himself only with powerful photographs from the gym, which until recently he published with enviable consistency on his Facebook page. And even greater “achievements” as head of the relevant parliamentary committee, including blocking the law on the liquidation of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv and the “Lozovoy amendments.”
However, there is one difficult procedural issue. According to the requirements of the Constitution of Ukraine, both for the dismissal of the current Prosecutor General and for the appointment of a new one, a decision must be made through a vote in the Verkhovna Rada.
As for Kravchenko, he worked as a prosecutor in Bucha, was subsequently awarded the Order of Merit, III degree, and moved to a completely different job, heading the Kyiv Regional Military Administration. Among the three candidates, Kravchenko has significantly less negativity, which is especially appropriate - questions about the construction of fortifications allegedly did not arise for him. In the end, if they decide to choose him, then Kravchenko will have to pass the test of “stability” in the context of orientation towards the Law, and not towards the will of Bankova.
As of today, the layout with the presence of votes is unknown. But the only problem is that Bankova, after the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Kubrakov and the announced division of the Ministry of Reconstruction into two ministries, as well as the work of the Ministry of Agriculture without a minister, is trying to add up the votes so as to vote for all the changes in one package. But, as noted above, Andrei Evgenievich’s fate was decided at Bankova. All that remains is to determine who will “come off the bench” named after Tatarov. Although, I suppose, not all three of the above-mentioned candidates focus exclusively on Oleg Yuryevich.
PS Accusatoris officium in posterum (Prosecutor's Office in the future)
Of course, if we assume purely hypothetically that the new prosecutor general who will replace Kostin will be professional and not politically tame, then we should expect adequate and useful activities from him for the country. The new prosecutor general would have to meet few criteria, which are based on the principles and principles specified in the relevant law.
Moreover, if processes are set up for real and systemic reform of all criminal justice bodies, the appointment of an independent prosecutor general could be a prerequisite for improving relations with Western partners. As a result, the tone and nature of the conversations between Blinken and Zelensky will become completely different.
Moreover, an independent and professional prosecutor general is one of the shortcuts to truly increasing the country’s defense capability. After all, for stolen goods (property, funds, absolutely various assets) it would be possible to purchase a much larger variety of weapons, without constantly waiting for the next trenches, which are “somewhat delayed.” And in general, this could be a saving for foreign partners who are now investing in various “auditor’s boards.”
However, “hypothetically” does not count. In fact, this is a text about why the resignation of the Attorney General is of interest only to the Attorney General. Who has long come to terms with his resignation and is only interested in future appointments. Unfortunately, in this case we come to the same conclusion that applies to any personnel appointment in the state: this government is not capable of generating a different quality of personnel nominees. They will still perform the functions that Bankova needs. And in this case, the office needs a prosecutor who can provide a “one-stop shop.” Kostin couldn't.
But Bankovaya appreciates those who can. That is why he takes care of Tatarov. And Tatarov is the system. In the most disgusting way.
