KIEV: Ukraine´s prime minister offered his resignation on Friday after audio was leaked of him questioning President Volodymyr Zelensky´s grasp of economics, in the first major political test for the inexperienced leader.
It was unclear whether Zelensky would accept Oleksiy Goncharuk´s offer, which came after a recording emerged of him reportedly saying the president had a “primitive understanding” of the economy. Zelensky, a comedian with no previous political experience, came to power after a landslide election win last year and his “Servant of the People” party later won a strong majority in parliament.
He has been embroiled in the US impeachment process and faced tough talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but had so far managed to avoid any significant domestic political problems. The audio recording was leaked on social media on Wednesday and reportedly came from an informal December meeting between ministers and senior officials from the National Bank. According to local media reports, the participants discussed how to explain recent economic developments to Zelensky. “Zelensky has a very primitive understanding of economic processes, or rather a simple understanding,” Goncharuk reportedly said on the recording, adding that he himself was an economic “ignoramus”.
After initially denying reports he would step down, Goncharuk announced on his official Facebook page on Friday that he had offered to resign. “To remove any doubts about our respect for and trust in the president, I have written a resignation letter and handed it over to the president,” Goncharuk, 35, wrote. He did not deny making the statement, but said the audio had “artificially created an impression that my team and I do not respect the president”.
“This is not true,” he said. “I came to this post to carry out the president´s programme. Zelensky´s office said it had received the letter of resignation and would consider it. Contacted by AFP, his spokeswoman declined any further comment.
Goncharuk became Ukraine´s youngest-ever prime minister after Zelensky nominated him for the post in August, part of a team of fresh faces he promised would shake up the country´s stagnant political scene.