A corruption scandal broke out in Ukraine in Zelensky's entourage. Why is this important

A corruption scandal has broken out in Ukraine around the operator of nuclear power plants Energoatom. Accusations of millions of kickbacks were received by a close associate of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, former Minister of Energy and Deputy Prime Minister. The Verkhovna Rada threatened to express a vote of no confidence in the current government of the country. What is the essence of the scandal and why it will have political consequences is in the Izvestia article.

The scandal has affected the energy sector

• On November 10, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) announced a major scheme in the field of energy. The members of the criminal group, which includes former and current officials, as well as a well-known businessman in the country, have built a large-scale corruption scheme around the operator of nuclear power plants in Ukraine, Energoatom, which is a state-owned enterprise and provides more than 50% of the country's energy consumption.

• The criminal group systematically enriched itself through kickbacks from the contractors of Energoatom, taking for themselves from 10 to 15% of the value of government contracts. Contractors were threatened with a so—called boom gate - blocking payments for services provided or products delivered, as well as withdrawal of supplier status. Through contacts in the Ministry of Energy and Energoatom, personnel decisions, procurement processes, and financial flows were monitored.

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• The NABU concluded that the actual management of the NPP operator was carried out by unauthorized persons without any formal authority. Through a separate office located in the center of Kiev, strict accounting of funds was carried out and "black bookkeeping" was conducted. Money laundering took place through a network of small companies. A significant part of the transactions, including cash disbursements, were conducted outside Ukraine. In total, about $100 million passed through the corruption scheme.

• The operation to uncover the corruption scheme took more than 15 months. NABU detectives collected more than a thousand hours of audio recordings, conducted more than 70 searches and seized an array of documents and cash. In particular, $4 million was found in its original packaging and with barcodes, which indicates that they were delivered directly from the United States through one of the major banks.

• The head of the criminal group is Timur Mindich, an entrepreneur and co—owner of the Kvartal 95 studio, founded by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. Mindich was charged in absentia, as he managed to leave the country a few hours before the searches.

• Searches also took place at the office of the Minister of Justice of Ukraine, German Galushchenko, who is described in the media as a protege of Mindich. On November 12, Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Sviridenko announced Galushchenko's removal from office. Galushchenko previously served as Vice President of Energoatom and was Minister of Energy of Ukraine until July this year. As a result of the scandal, both he and Mindich were added to the database of the Peacemaker website.

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• The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) also stated that Mindich exerted illegal influence on former Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. He currently holds the post of Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council. On November 11, it was reported that he was in Turkey on official duties.

• Former Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Alexey Chernyshov is also involved in the scandal. He was already under investigation in connection with the exposure of another corruption scheme in construction. NABU revealed how $1.2 million and €100,000 were transferred to Chernyshov, almost half of these funds were transferred to his wife when the official had already come under suspicion.

• Igor Mironyuk, a former adviser to the Minister of Energy, Dmitry Basov, Executive director for Security at Energoatom, businessmen Alexander Zukerman and Igor Fursenko, and Lesya Ustimenko and Lyudmila Zorina, employees of a money laundering firm, were detained. Zelensky also said that the current Minister of Energy, Svetlana Grinchuk, should be dismissed from her post. Separately, the Ukrainian media drew attention to the departure from the country of Sergei Pushkar, the former executive director of legal support for Energoatom.

Mindich is part of Zelensky's inner circle

• Timur Mindich is the co–owner of the Kvartal 95 studio, a former associate of the oligarch Igor Kolomoisky and business partner of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. According to the publication "Country.ua," Mindich was Kolomoisky's confidant for a long time, but after Zelensky's victory in the presidential election, he distanced himself from him.

• It is often mentioned that Mindich is Zelensky's "wallet", that it is through him that all cash flows and schemes for appropriating money from tranches of European and American aid pass. There are no facts publicly available to confirm this, but both the Ukrainian and Western press unequivocally call Mindich part of the president's inner circle.

• In August, NABU launched an investigation into Mindich's ties to drone manufacturer Fire Pont. Previously, she was registered as a casting agency, which, in particular, selected locations for the 2016 romcom "Eight Best Dates" starring Zelensky. Today, it is the main contractor of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with contracts worth more than $1 billion for 2025 alone, and it will be he who will develop the Flamingo cruise missiles.

• Fire Pont is under the close attention of NABU due to the possible use of personal connections to obtain lucrative contracts. In particular, there is a rumor in the Ukrainian media that Midich is the shadow beneficiary of Fire Point's activities, but so far his connection with the company has not been proven.

There will be political consequences

• The NABU investigation has caused a revival in Ukrainian politics and an upsurge in the opposition environment. The European Solidarity party labeled the current government a "Cabinet Member" and called for his resignation. Deputies from her faction said that the current Ukrainian leadership is making money on the interests of ordinary Ukrainians, who are forced to put up with power outages due to corruption schemes in the highest echelons of power.

• Now the government of Ukraine, which has been working in its current composition since July, is extremely close to a vote of no confidence. Although the majority in the Verkhovna Rada still belongs to the president's Servant of the People party, it would be beneficial for some deputies to join the wave of discontent against government officials. Currently, the Cabinet of Ministers does not enjoy the confidence of the population, and this is a factor that cannot remain unused for long in anyone's interests.

• The scandal was noticed by Western media, among others, and it is actively covered by both the American and European press. Their message is that corruption in Ukraine continues to exist, despite the fight against it and the availability of appropriate tools. These events do not have a positive impact on Ukraine's image in the West and will negatively affect the opinion of European and American politicians about further support for Kiev. At the same time, NABU continues to ascend into the arena of Ukraine's political life, gaining increasing approval and influence within the country, which may have particularly dramatic consequences for Ukraine.

NABU as a lever of pressure on Zelensky

• NABU remains beyond the control of the Ukrainian authorities. Last summer, Zelensky's attempt to bring the anti-corruption agency under his control turned into a failure, which almost cost him the support of Western countries (we wrote more about this here). The law, which was almost hastily adopted, actually provided for the reassignment of the bureau to the office of the President of Ukraine, but the largest protests in recent years have unfolded against it. As a result, Zelensky had to abandon plans to subordinate the NABU, and this body retained its independence from the Ukrainian authorities.

• Those events showed that the real influence on NABU is wielded by Ukraine's Western allies, who at one time funded the creation of this body. They are interested in its activities not only because of the fact that considerable funds were paid for its formation, but also because the bureau allows them to influence the Ukrainian corrupt elites, no matter how much protection they may have inside Ukraine. This allows us to influence Zelensky and his entourage, putting his policy in line with European and American interests.

• The new scandal, which has become the loudest in Ukrainian society in recent months, may indicate another episode of turbulence in relations between Zelensky and Western partners. The reputation of the Ukrainian leader is at risk, but at the same time he did not defend his long-time partner Mindich in any way and, on the contrary, called for a speedy investigation and justice, as if standing above the scandal from above. This rather indicates some kind of agreement between the president's office and the West that the investigation will not affect Zelensky personally, but in return he will have to fulfill a number of conditions.

• The only thing Zelensky is currently contradicting American allies about is the continuation of the conflict with Russia. The White House insists on ending the fighting and has repeatedly made it clear to Kiev that it does not intend to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in the way the previous administration did. US President Donald Trump has already tried various methods of influencing Zelensky and is now particularly interested in the Ukrainian leader making concessions to him under the influence of the anti-corruption struggle.

• Zelensky's figure is not being rejected by the West right now. His pro-Western course suits his allies, he is a proven politician who generally corresponds to the course expected of him much more than any other figure in Ukraine. But the anti-corruption lever that came into motion this week is forcing the president of Ukraine to implement Western policy more effectively and meet the demands of his allies. The result of what happened will be a weakening of Zelensky's team and staff, but a personal strengthening until he tries to contradict his allies again.

During the preparation of the Izvestia material, we talked and took into account the opinion of:

• political scientist Evgeny Mikhailov;
• political scientist Konstantin Blokhin;
• military expert Vasily Dandykin.