Zelenskiy dismissed Chief of Staff Andriy Bohdan

UKRAINE - In Brief 11 Feb 2020 by Dmytro Boyarchuk

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President Zelenskiy dismissed Andriy Bohdan, Chief of Staff of the President Office, according to the President Office web-site. Andriy Yermak, president’s advisor, is the new Head of the President Office. Rumors about the potential dismissal of Bohdan had been circulating already for few days. But after a previously faked resignation of Bohdan in August, the talk was treated skeptically. We know little about Andriy Yermak except for the point that he was responsible for international relations at the President Office. Allegedly he is the person who is leading the peace recovery process with Russia. How he will mange these matters we will have to learn. Provisionally the appointment is perceived as a stronger move towards rebuilding relations with Russia since Yermak has good relations with Dmitriy Kozak, recently appointed Deputy Head of the President Office of Russian Federation. The removal of Bohdan looks to be a good move. He has a controversial reputation and he was negatively perceived by western partners. He delivered many public scandals and simply irritated observers with his arrogant behavior. Also, many suspected Bohdan of playing on Kolomoyskiy's team (despite that Bohdan tried to dispel the suspicions). The replacement most likely means we will observe more dismissals on different levels of power. Bohdan was the person who defined cadre policy over the last nine months. We should expect Yermak's reviewing many appointments.