President’s Chief of Staff Victor Baloha denies any conflict between the Presidential Secretariat and the government of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

He said this in an interview to Ukrayina Moloda daily of February 1, 2008.

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According to V.Baloha, speaking about a conflict between the Secretariat and the Cabinet of Ministers is advantageous for many politicians, as well as biased journalists and political scientists. “But it is up to them”, he said.

The Chief of Staff stressed these rumors are not new, they were rife as well in the times when the government was headed by Victor Yanukovych. “The matter is that the Secretariat merely does what it has to do, and often the decisions of Bankova [street, where the Presidential Secretariat is situated], are not liked by Hrushevskoho [street, where the government building is situated]”, he said.

V.Baloha stressed that the Secretariat does not apply any double standards. He noted that the President signed directives for foreign visits of Prime Minister Victor Yanukovych, as well as he signs now directives for foreign visits of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. “Probably, somebody sees a conflict between the Secretariat and the government in our unbiased approach. But, in fact, there is no conflict”, V.Baloha said.