Personal resentment or the Kremlin’s hand: who let Mendel “smear” Bankova

The surge of critical statements from individuals who previously belonged to the president’s inner circle may be a manifestation of personal grievances or part of a strategy to discredit the state.

This opinion was expressed on the air of “Pryamoy” by politician and former military serviceman Volodymyr Omelyan.

Analyzing the behavior of former presidential spokeswoman Yulia Mendel and other media figures of the government, he pointed out the regularity of such processes and linked them to the erroneous personnel policy of the head of state.

“Is Zelensky involved in appointing Mendel… an absolutely pro-Russian person as his spokesperson? Obviously yes. It was his responsibility,” Omelyan noted.

The politician recalled that Arestovych, Dubinsky and other former friends of the president had gone through a similar path. Omelyan emphasized that the use of “thousands of heads” in the media was aimed solely at seizing the information agenda while the country was being plundered.

“I think that there can actually be many reasons for this, starting simply with the factor of an offended person who uses any opportunity to, so to speak, remind at the door. And this is far from the first ally of Zelensky in this style. Remember Arestovych and many other of his very close friends,” explains Omelyan.

Separately, he noted that even those advisers who previously called him an aristocrat have now turned their backs on the former head of the President’s Office, Andriy Yermak. Omelyan believes that such destabilization of the head of state’s entourage indicates deep internal problems in the management vertical, where former defenders are becoming the main critics.

As a reminder, former spokeswoman for Volodymyr Zelensky Yulia Mendel (2019-2021) gave an interview to American blogger Tucker Carlson. She called the Ukrainian president a “hidden evil” and voiced other messages beneficial to Russian propaganda.

Later, it became known that the former press secretary of the President of Ukraine, Yulia Mendel, was added to the Myrotvorets database . In particular, the reasons for including her on the list are participation in acts of humanitarian aggression against Ukraine, as well as the dissemination of Russian propaganda narratives.

Meanwhile, co-chair of the European Solidarity faction, Iryna Gerashchenko,criticized the current government’s approach to personnel appointments “by announcement” and the lack of a professional team, which led to the current crisis and distrust.

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