Zelenskiy Weakened But Not Fatally by Corruption Scandal and Front Collapse
Ukraine’s scandal of the decade, the so-called Mindichgate affair, and associated corruption scandals, have weakened Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy and his ruling clan but not fatally so. Although the clan’s ‘business’ coordinator Timur Mindich was under criminal suspicion, near arrest, and forced to leave the country; although the clan’s political coordinator, Head of Zelenskiy’s Office of the President (OP), Andrei Ermak, was dismissed and indicted; although deputies from Zelenskiy’s party group in the Verkhovna Rada are also under suspicion of crimes and Zelenskiy’s control over the Rada has been weakened; Zelenskiy, nevertheless, remains more or less in charge and his damaged clan is still perhaps the most powerful in Ukraine.
However, the power ministries or siloviki (Defense, Internal Affairs, SBU, HRU, Procuracy) have become markedly more powerful in Ukrainian politics, with some neofascist formations inside the military able to assert autonomy from the state apparatus. Thus, Zelenskiy has become more vulnerable to removal from power, having become dependent on independent siloviki, neofascist, and even criminal figures with limited loyalty to him and with their own power bases.
