Not Just the "Parliament Director": Sources Revealed Arahamia's Role in Zelenskyy's Team

The leader of the Servant of the People faction, David Arakhamia, occupies a special place among the president Volodymyr Zelensky's closest top officials.

RBK-Ukraine’s sources in the president’s entourage described his role in the government team. In particular, sources say Arakhamia is primarily responsible for domestic policy. However, in the latest cabinet overhaul he did not play a key role, though he actively participated. The new prime minister, Serhiy Korketskyi, is not his creation. "No one brought Korketskyi to Zelensky; the president had long noticed him at Naftogaz or even earlier," says a RBK-Ukraine source close to the head of state. As a result of the cabinet reshuffle, Arakhamia managed to obtain his own minister—the head of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, Vitalii Kim. Sources in the parliament also speak of his role in appointing MP Vitalii Bezgin as minister of Community, Territories and IDPs, and Andrii Butenko as minister of education. As one RBK-Ukraine insider explained, at one time he believes Ermak was ruined by personnel decisions. "When you try to appoint everyone everywhere, you then answer for all these people. So now the staffing function of AB (Ermak) is effectively dispersed," he said. Moreover, Arakhamia effectively holds an unofficial position of "parliament director," a role that existed under several presidents, the article notes. "He has the mandate for the parliament; that is, essentially his domain, but the expectations from him are greater than from Ermak, who only handled allied parliamentary groups. And now for David—for Servant and everyone else—to secure votes," says a parliamentary source. The article also notes that Arakhamia is attempting to preliminarily construct a Zelensky-ready configuration for the next convocation of the Verkhovna Rada. Since a monoblock majority is almost certainly not in the cards, the coalition could include the conditional "Zelensky Bloc" and the "Budanov Bloc," as well as one of the projects likely to reflect Arakhamia’s interests. "In addition, Arakhamia bears a significant portion of the negotiating track. Some public activity—for example, he was part of the Ukrainian delegation at the latest meetings with Donald Trump in Ankara and Washington. But he is much more engaged in informal and non-public diplomacy," the RBK-Ukraine article states. A close Arakhamia ally said that to some extent the head of the Servant faction has even broader negotiating authority than Ermak once did. "Ermak had various working groups, peace summits, and so on. For David—you go there, talk to someone, suddenly appear here, make deals there. Essentially it’s real diplomacy, not official, with 'notes' and 'statements'," the source said.

Previously, RBK-Ukraine explained the reasons for personnel changes in the government. Despite a trillion-dollar budget, the July crisis was caused by a clash of worldviews between the 'old guard' and those who seek transformation.