Ukraine’s prosecutor general says he will not resign amid corruption scandal

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said he does not intend to resign voluntarily as a corruption scandal involving his office widens. He told journalists that he would comply if the Verkhovna Rada voted for his dismissal or President Volodymyr Zelenskyy initiated the process.

“I do not feel that I have to do this,” Kravchenko said. “There is a procedure: the Verkhovna Rada can vote, and the president can initiate this dismissal. If they do so, I will, of course, comply. I am not clinging to my position.”

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I do not feel that I have to do this.

Kravchenko also said the team working with him was central to his decision. “I cannot accomplish anything without the team,” he said. “If the whole team decides that I should resign, then I will do so as well.” He was due to attend a meeting of parliament’s law enforcement committee on September 8 and planned to speak to journalists afterward. He also said he had a meeting scheduled with Zelenskyy.

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There is a procedure: the Verkhovna Rada can vote, and the president can initiate this dismissal. If they do so, I will, of course, comply. I am not clinging to my position.

The dispute follows searches by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office at premises linked to Kravchenko, his first deputy Mariia Vdovychenko, Odesa regional military administration chief Oleh Kiper and other staff. The Prosecutor General’s Office initially denied that investigators had searched Kravchenko’s home or office, but later confirmed searches at offices used by him and other officials.

Investigators said they had uncovered a criminal organization allegedly headed by a department chief at the Prosecutor General’s Office. Members are suspected of regularly taking bribes from fraudulent call centers and laundering money. Serhii Kropyva, a deputy head of the office’s International Legal Cooperation Department, was detained, according to sources cited by Ukrainska Pravda. A court ordered him held in pre-trial detention, with bail set at 120 million hryvnias, or $2.7 million. The High Anti-Corruption Court also imposed a pre-trial restriction on Yelyzaveta Ivakhnenko, a 24-year-old suspect in the operation.

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I cannot accomplish anything without the team. If the whole team decides that I should resign, then I will do so as well.