The Office of the President of Ukraine says the statement made by Deputy Head of the Office Oleh Tatarov regarding the activities of the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) is his personal opinion and does not reflect the official position of Volodymyr Zelensky.
This is stated in a comment posted by the presidential press service on Sunday evening.
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The President's Office recalls that Zelensky has repeatedly stated that the fact that certain provisions of the law on NABU were recognized unconstitutional was unable to undermine the legitimacy and independence of the Bureau and its director Artem Sytnyk.
"As stated by Oleh Tatarov, he works in the team of the President of Ukraine and fully supports his course of cooperation with international partners to strengthen the independence of all anti-corruption agencies," the press service said.
It also cites explanations by Tatarov himself.
"Yesterday I expressed my personal opinion, which in no way impacts my support for all legislative initiatives of the president to strengthen the independence of all anti-corruption agencies," he said.
Chief of the president's staff Andriy Yermak, in turn, noted that the independence and integrity of the anti-corruption system is a priority.
Previous statement by Tatarov on NABU
- The day before, Tatarov criticized the activities of the Bureau and its leadership.
- "NABU is not part of Ukrainian history, which, unfortunately, is [written] outside our country. You can come up with various legislative initiatives, but it is Artem Sytnyk who is the roots of problems in the state's anti-corruption policy," he said in an interview for a Ukrainian media outlet. According to the official, Sytnyk has no moral right to head the state's anti-corruption agency and must resign.
