Yermak's dismissal strengthens Budanov's position - Taran

The decision to dismiss Andrii Yermak was the final chord in his long-running confrontation with the chief of the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov. Representatives of the expert community have repeatedly talked about pressure on Budanov from the former head of the President's Office, so Yermak's dismissal can be seen as a victory and strengthening of the position of the Chief of the Defense Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov, as well as confirmation of his political stability. This conclusion was made by political analyst Viktor Taran on his own Facebook page.

"In principle, everything is logical. After all, there are no corruption scandals or outright punctures behind him (ed. - Budanov). There is effective management, authority among the military, trust among people," Taran notes.

He also recalls that Budanov successfully fulfilled key negotiation tasks, in particular, the exchange of prisoners, and cooperation with foreign partners was consistently accompanied by positive assessments in his address.

Thus, the political scientist hints that the combination of these factors has significantly strengthened Budanov's position in the eyes of the President, whom the head of the Defense Intelligence directly asked to dismiss Yermak against the background of the release of the so-called "Mindich tapes", which exposed corruption at the highest levels of the Ukrainian government.

However, the expert admits that Yermak himself may not give up hope of retaining influence. Taran cites the appointment of NSDC Secretary Rustem Umerov as the head of the Ukrainian delegation to the talks with the United States on a peace plan as evidence of this.

"It is very strange against this background that Umerov was appointed head of the negotiation group with the Americans instead of Yermak. With his "train" and constant punctures in all "Istanbul". Are there no personnel left at all? Or is Yermak still in charge? It's time for Bankova to rely on professionalism rather than personal loyalty," Taran said.

It should be noted that in the fall, the expert community began to talk about the escalation of Andrii Yermak's struggle against the Defense Intelligence and personally Kyrylo Budanov.