The Rada dismissed Kravchenko as prosecutor general: 317 votes in favor, none against

The Verkhovna Rada voted to dismiss Ruslan Kravchenko as prosecutor general — 317 members of parliament supported the decision, with no votes against and no abstentions; 23 lawmakers did not vote.

On the eve of the plenary session, the Rada’s relevant committee on law enforcement unanimously — by 17 votes — backed the motion to dismiss Kravchenko. The question of his dismissal was then brought to the floor for consideration.

Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelensky had called on the Rada to vote for the prosecutor general’s dismissal, and shortly afterward suspended Kravchenko from his post by decree.

On the eve of the vote, Kravchenko published a lengthy post on social media in which he accused the anti-corruption bodies — NABU and SAP — of attempting to seize control of all branches of power and usurp governance of the state.

“In the past 24 hours, we have witnessed attempts to take control of all branches of power. By exerting pressure on the president, they have, through means that have nothing to do with legal procedure or the letter of the law, already gone so far as to ‘cancel’ suspicion notices against themselves. Is this possible in a state governed by the rule of law? Is this possible without pressure on the president? Is this possible without pressure on the leader of the largest faction in parliament? Is this possible without daily pressure on members of parliament, who, under threat of yet another fabricated criminal proceeding, turn a blind eye to complete lawlessness? Is this possible with total impunity and permissiveness on the part of the leadership of a particular caste of law enforcement bodies that has decided to take the entire country hostage?” — Kravchenko wrote.

Kravchenko also hinted that Zelensky might yield to pressure and begin pressing lawmakers to pass certain legislation — presumably referring to the Kachka-Kos legislative package.

“Neither the Constitution of Ukraine, nor, moreover, the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Legal Regime of Martial Law,’ grants the president the right to demand that deputies adopt decisions that fall within their exclusive powers,” — Kravchenko stated.

Separately, the former prosecutor general confirmed that he had blocked NABU and SAP’s attempts to serve suspicion notices on members of parliament. According to him, during his tenure as prosecutor general, dozens of relevant materials were submitted by the anti-corruption bodies, a significant portion of which he assessed as groundless or legally far-fetched.

“I did not block lawful decisions — I did not allow the prosecutor general’s signature to be turned into an instrument of political pressure by NABU and SAP on elected representatives. I kept my promise to parliament: I did not sign a single politically motivated procedural decision against either opposition representatives or deputies from the pro-government political force. Because in such actions there was an obvious political subtext and attempts to take control of the sole legislative body of the state,” — Kravchenko noted.