Acting prosecutor general of Ukraine: Prosecutor’s Office denies appointment of Maksym Krym

The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine has denied reports that Maksym Krym was appointed acting prosecutor general, but still has not named the person actually holding the post.

Earlier, former prosecutor general Yuriy Lutsenko stated on social media that Ruslan Kravchenko’s deputy Maksym Krym was serving as acting prosecutor general. Media outlets also reported that it was Krym who approved the cancellation of the suspicion notice against the director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), Semen Kryvonosov — a suspicion notice that Kravchenko had signed before leaving the country.

Spokesperson for the Prosecutor General’s Office Hayevska told journalists that no order or directive had been issued appointing Krym as acting prosecutor general. She did not, however, clarify who is currently serving as acting head of the office.

On September 7, Kravchenko submitted his resignation, and in the early hours of September 14 he left Ukraine on an official trip to France. He stated that he was traveling to a PACE session dedicated to abducted Ukrainian children. However, Kravchenko does not appear in the published session agenda, and PACE indicated that neither he nor any other representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office would be participating in the event.

Today, the Verkhovna Rada dismissed Kravchenko from the post of prosecutor general. On the eve of the vote, he published a lengthy post on his social media in which he accused anti-corruption bodies of attempting to take control of all branches of power and usurp governance of the state.

The editorial team analyzed the situation surrounding the prosecutor general’s resignation and the suspicion notice against the NABU chief and its subsequent cancellation in a separate article.