“The slaves don’t need to know about this”: why Bankova ignores Mindich’s tapes
фотоколаж: Радіо Свобода
The lack of reaction of the Office of the President to the published facts about corruption in the highest echelons of power indicates “institutional degradation.” After all, silencing ties between officials and business in times of war only destroys trust in state institutions and worsens their condition.
People’s Deputy from “European Solidarity” Volodymyr Ariev analyzed the lack of official reaction of the authorities to the published journalistic investigations into the head of state’s entourage on the air of “Pryamoy”.
According to the politician, a situation has developed in the corridors of power where non-public figures are taking on the functions of state spokespersons. In particular, he mentioned the chats of presidential aide Dmytro Lytvyn, who allegedly forbade commenting on the topic of businessman Mindich’s conversations.
“This is an issue that is very concerning to society, but in the office of the prince – sorry, the President of Ukraine – they will simply ignore it. Because why should the serfs know about the chambers that are being built for the prince and the boyars?” – noted the studio guest.
According to him, the Verkhovna Rada is also demonstrating passivity, trying to pass off the recordings as a “radio show.” According to the MP, ignoring such facts indicates deep institutional degradation. Ariev believes that silencing corrupt ties between business and officials only worsens the state of state institutions during the war.
As a reminder, Ukrainska Pravda has published a new part of audio recordings that, according to journalists, were made by NABU as part of the Midas case. These are conversations recorded in the summer of 2025 in the apartment of businessman Timur Mindich, who is called a defendant in the energy corruption case.
As reported by the representative of the Anti-Corruption Council under the Ministry of Defense, Tetyana Nikolayenko, the tapes made it clear not only that Mindich is connected with FirePoint, but that he manages the very process of production and attracting investment funds. But it turns out that the former Minister of Defense traveled to the UAE and lobbied for attracting investment in this particular campaign, and also pushed for the allocation of budget funds for it.
In addition, one of the conversations documented by NABU as part of the “Midas” case in the apartment of currently sanctioned businessman Timur Mindich was with a woman named Natalya and concerned the construction of estates for former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, who is suspected of abuse of office and receiving a bribe, Mindich, and two other people called “Andriy” and “Vova.”