The Verkhovna Rada dismissed Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk, with 254 deputies voting in favor of this decision. Before his resignation, however, Danyliuk spoke out with sharp criticism of the government.

"I’ve been incriminated with airing dirty laundry in public. It's so uncharacteristic of us that we do not have a Ukrainian analogue for this expression. When you gave me the powers of the Minister of Finance, I was going to build an efficient, modern financial system for the country. I was going to fight against corruption, against the squandering of public funds. I was going to build a modern service of financial investigations. With honor and dignity, I defended the interests of Ukraine before those of international partners," the minister said.

Danyliuk refuses to believe that his recent letter revealed anything that the whole country did not already know.

"No man, no problem. However, in the 21st century, such principles of solving systemic problems do not work. It is necessary to make state decisions, rather than to be guided by teenage complexes that will cost billions to the state," the minister said.

The resignation of Danyliuk was initiated by Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman on June 6. "After the conflict provoked by him at a government meeting, he allowed himself actions that, in my opinion, are incompatible with him staying as a member of the Cabinet of Ministers," Groysman said.

At a government meeting on May 23, Danylyuk tried unsuccessfully to get his adviser Yana Bugrimova appointed as deputy minister. The public broadcast of the meeting was terminated but those present in the Cabinet reported that after a short squabble with Groysman, the minister’s request was refused. During the squabble, Danyliuk even spoke about preparing his resignation.

Commenting on the situation with Danyliuk, Groysman suggested that Danyliuk decided to change his place of work and wanted to appear a victim. Soon after, it became known that Danyliuk wrote a letter to the ambassadors of the G-7 countries, outlining his version of the conflict with Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.

According to him, President Petro Poroshenko was trying to achieve the appointment of a person whom Igor Kononenko and Nina Yuzhanina lobbied for as a deputy finance minister. At first it was Ihor Umansky, and then later, Svetlana Vorobei. Because Danyliuk did not approve these candidacies for a position, he has been working for two years without a deputy.

Danyliuk also noted that the current authorities stood in the way of reforming the State Fiscal Service.

Minister of Finance Danyliuk held his post from April 2016. After his dismissal, Oksana Markarova will serve as a minister.

  Danyliuk, Ukraine

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