New victories of Andrey Ermak: as evidenced by the reshuffles at Bankova

On Friday evening, President Vladimir Zelensky conducted a number of rotations in the Office of the President. He fired two deputy heads of the Presidential Office - Andrei Smirnov and Alexei Dneprov - and appointed in their places Irina Mudraya and Elena Kovalskaya, who are said to be close to Andrei Yermak. And if Dneprov’s dismissal does not significantly change the situation on Bankovaya, then Smirnov’s departure is definitely another serious victory for the head of the Office and an increase in influence.

Moreover, this may not be the last change among the deputies.

There have been rumors about personnel rotations at Bankova for a long time, but if at the beginning of 2023 the media were all trying to convince that the States would wait until Oleg Tatarov resigned, then at the end of last year they were talking more often about Rostislav Shurma.

However, neither the first nor the second were affected by this wave. In particular, and due to good relations with the head of the Office.

Another thing is Andrey Smirnov.

Smirnov was appointed deputy back in September 2019, when the Office was headed by Andrey Bogdan. He worked on issues of legal policy, law enforcement and judicial systems.

Over time, in this sphere of influence, Smirnov began to seriously conflict with Oleg Tatarov, whose influence on the law enforcement and judicial system only grew.

Interestingly, rumors about Smirnov’s dismissal have been circulating since 2021.

Then journalistic sources pointed out that Smirnov “too often has his own opinion and tries to convey alternative information to the president, which irritates Andrei Borisovich.”

The current version of one of the reasons for the dismissal sounds like this: “The fact that Smirnov liked to meet with journalists along with Andrei Bogdan’s people and leak information to them did not benefit him.”

Also, according to the source of Censor.NET, the conflict with Tatarov also played a role.

“It’s the same as with Danilov, there was a decision that had been prepared for a long time. Many factors played a role, including an investigation by journalists about luxury real estate,” adds another interlocutor of the publication.

We are obviously talking about a story by Mikhail Tkach in UP from February last year about how Smirnov’s brother Igor acquired apartments in an elite new building in Lviv, a plot of land in the Carpathians, a parking space in Kiev, and also a Volkswagen Multivan, a BMW and a motorcycle.

The apartments, plot and parking space, according to official documents, were purchased at a several-fold discount. And according to his brother, he borrowed the money.

The journalist then recalled in the story that luxury real estate is often used as a bribe to officials.

Smirnov himself called the plot the revenge of Andrei Portnov. He also added that his brother is an adult who “knows how to live on his own and negotiate without outside help.”

Another reason for Smirnov’s dismissal, the publication’s interlocutors called the president’s dissatisfaction with his results in creating an international tribunal to condemn Russia for crimes committed in Ukraine.

“For that matter, Wise worked much more on this. So it’s logical that she will get this position,” the publication’s interlocutor noted.

Irina Mudraya has worked as Deputy Minister of Justice since 2022. Before this, her place of work was JSC State Savings Bank of Ukraine.

Alexey Dneprov came to the Office of the President in the summer of 2021. Until then, from April 2016 to July 2021, Alexey Dneprov was the chief of staff of the Presidential Administration, then the OP.

According to the publication's sources, Dneprov may soon head one of the universities. The former deputy head of the OP himself, in a commentary to Censor.NET, noted that this is still a long way to go, and first we need to gain the trust of the team. According to him, he had long wanted to return to the educational field.

“But this is definitely not with the help of the authorities. Not an exchange of positions. This is my personal path. I have long dreamed of returning “to the field,” Dneprov noted.

And Elena Kovalskaya will take his place. Before that, she served as head of the cabinet of the head of the Office of the President, and was also a member of the working group under the president on the creation of an international tribunal.

Kovalskaya has engineering and marketing education. She has been working in the Office since 2021, starting as the head of the Main Directorate of Strategic Communications of the Directorate for Information Policy in the OP.

The publication’s sources called both Mudraya and Kovalskaya close to Ermak.

According to Censor.NET’s interlocutors, the head of the Office is counting on the new deputies, as well as some deputies, to improve relations with the Republicans. After all, the issue of providing weapons to Ukraine has not yet been resolved.

On February 13, the United States Senate approved a $95.3 billion international aid bill that includes funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. But Congress has not yet made a decision on this matter.

Improving relations with Republicans is also important in the context of the upcoming elections in the United States, where Donald Trump again has a chance to win. As you know, Trump has bad memories of the Ukrainian government, because they did not help him in the fight against Joe Biden (due to discrediting his son on the gas issue), but his maneuvers in Ukraine destroyed the reputation of Rudy Giuliani. It was he who negotiated with the Ukrainian authorities and actually put pressure on them.

In 2021, Giuliani's communications with influential Ukrainian oligarchs and officials became the basis for an FBI investigation.

Therefore, building relationships with Republicans through various prayer breakfasts for the Office becomes a very important task.

As for personnel rotations, it is possible that these are not the last replacements.

As you know, sources of journalists reported that the deputy head of the Office, Andrei Sibiga, could also be fired. They want to transfer the diplomat and lawyer to work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Sibiga has been called a possible new head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for six months now. “It hasn’t come to this yet for one simple reason: it’s becoming increasingly difficult to gather votes for something in the Rada,” says the publication’s interlocutor.

“Of course, if the president asks, there will be votes. But if Ermak asks, then Arakhamia says yes, but is in no hurry to fulfill the promise,” adds the source.

Another candidate for changing his sphere of activity is traditionally called the Deputy Head of the Office of the President Rostislav Shurma, who has recently also been plagued by scandals, in particular over his brother’s solar power plants in the occupied territory.

Theoretically, Shurma could head the fund for the restoration of Ukraine, and the head of the Lviv administration, Maxim Kozitsky, could be appointed in his place. But this is still theorizing.

On Saturday, the president also fired Sergei Shefir from the post of his first assistant. In fact, Shefir retired from business a very long time ago (after the assassination attempt) and ceased to be his confidant in contacts, including with the oligarchs. If we talk about influence on the president, Ermak celebrated his victory in this battle a long time ago. At the same time, Sergey Shefir is involved in the NABU case against the Chairman of the State Property Fund Dmitry Sennichenko on the theft of funds from the Odessa Port Authority and the United Mining and Chemical Corporation. In the materials of interrogations regarding the case of the leadership of the State Property Fund, former deputy chairman Sergei Ignatovsky says that, according to the head of the fund, Dmitry Sennichenko, Gmyrin organized a “roof” for them on Bankova. And he named Sergei Shefir as one of the secret patrons. This name also appears in the published materials of the NSRD. True, it is unknown about any investigative actions against Shefir.