Parliament dismisses Culture Minister Tkachenko

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine [Ukrainian parliament – ed.] has supported the resignation of Oleksandr Tkachenko, Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.

Source: Yaroslav Zhelezniak, MP from the Servant of the People party, on Telegram

Details: First, Tkachenko made a report from the stand.

A total of 321 MPs voted in favour of his resignation. 

Quote from Zhelezniak: "The issue of appointing a new minister is not on the agenda today and most likely will not be this week."

Previously: The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy did not support the resignation of Oleksandr Tkachenko as Minister of Culture and Information Policy, leaving this decision to the discretion of the session hall.

Background:

• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to dismiss Oleksandr Tkachenko from the post of Minister of Culture and Information Policy and appoint another person to the post. Tkachenko later announced that he had submitted his resignation.
• Despite public calls, Oleksandr Tkachenko said that spending more than 500 million hryvnias [approximately US$13.5 million] from the state budget during the war to complete the construction of the National Museum of the Holodomor Genocide of the Ukrainian people is "appropriate".
• On 13 July, the Verkhovna Rada supported the allocation of funding to complete the construction of the National Museum of the Holodomor Genocide (draft law No 3473).
• This outraged the public, as did the idea of replacing the USSR coat of arms with the Ukrainian coat of arms on the shield of the Motherland Monument. Many called on the authorities to invest only in victory and vital areas, the reconstruction of damaged infrastructure, healthcare and education – not in museums, monuments, pedestrian bridges and paving, which can be done without while the war is ongoing.
• The Ministry of Culture also allocated 448 million hryvnias [approximately US$12 million] for the production of television films. The ministry confused the public by claiming that the revival of series production was "a matter of state information and cultural security".

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