'For some reason, ministers don't end up at the front after resignation'. MP Inna Sovsun on parliamentary crisis and mobilization

Last week, the maximum support during votes did not exceed 260 votes, and government bills are failing in parliament. “The Rada is broken,” said Servant of the People member Danil Getmantsev.

Additionally, there are still no decisions on the terms of military service. At the same time, the number of attacks on military personnel from the Territorial Recruitment Centers (TRC), who are tasked with mobilization, is increasing.

We discussed what is happening inside parliament, why legislators are dissatisfied with the government, and whether there will be fair decisions for the military.

Below are the key points from journalist Denys Bulavin’s conversation with Golos party MP Inna Sovsun as part of the “hromadske.discourse” project. The full video recording of the conversation is available to hromadske community members. Join the community via the link.

Below is direct speech from Inna Sovsun.

On the crisis of votes in parliament

Some lawmakers are genuinely stressed Five members of parliament have already been charged by NABU and the SAPO with vote-buying. In total, 41 incumbent members of parliament have been charged with corruption.due to cases opened against them by NABU (National Anti-Corruption Bureau) and SAPO (Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office). A colleague from Servant of the People quietly said, “Cases are being opened against our people, but the leadership doesn’t want to help at all.”

So they say: if they are not protected from NABU and SAPO, why should they work for this leadership?

Moreover, there are rumors that some delegation of MPs went to Brussels to complain about NABU and SAPO. This indicates that if the situation cannot be resolved, it can descend into absurdity.

The second argument is that all unpopular votes have been shifted onto the parliamentarians. The government takes on the obligations, but the lawmakers have to execute them, and then everyone curses them.

Given how difficult the situation is in the country, we cannot just assume that the Rada will pass unpopular decisions—and then expect them to vote on some shady “little agreement” that our delegation negotiates with the Russians. Meanwhile, the president will be President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that in April, pensioners and other vulnerable groups will receive 1,500 hryvnias ($34) each. The government is also to prepare a fuel cashback program: 15% on diesel, 10% on gasoline, and 15% on autogas.handing out 1,500 hryvnias left, right, and center, and staging all sorts of populist spectacles.

This raises the question of each side's readiness to take responsibility for unpopular decisions.

Much less attention is paid to the deep-seated problem that is indirectly manifested by the phrase that lawmakers are “tired.”

There are many random people in parliament who are unaware of the country's context and do not feel responsible to do anything about it.

These random people, indifferent and unprofessional, often have false motives. People came to earn a little money — obviously, it will be very difficult for them to just take part in voting, for which all they get is potential cases from NABU or backlash from citizens.

This is a lesson: MPs do not spontaneously appear in the Verkhovna Rada. The Ukrainian people vote for them. Conclusions must be drawn about how it happened that there are so many random people.

There is also a problem with a weak government. And, frankly, the government’s position is not strengthened by the fact that it very willingly undertakes to fulfill any whims of the president.

Basic knowledge of economics and logic says that if we urgently need to vote on laws to increase taxes, it means we have no money at all. So, maybe we shouldn’t give it away?

On Zelenskyy’s statement to send MPs to the front

We have about 80 female MPs. Most have husbands of conscription age. I know five whose husbands serve or have served. How does this happen? It’s statistically impossible.

Therefore, the president’s argument that they will serve is logical. If a person resigns their mandate, they lose the right to deferment and should be mobilized.

If this worked automatically, then all the ministers who resigned would suddenly end up at the front. But for some reason, they don’t. I really want to hear the answer to how this happens.

I was also surprised that the president said, “I will introduce changes to the legislation to make this happen.” But there is no need to change the legislation for this. It is already the case: you lose your mandate, you lose the right to deferment — and you can be mobilized.

Then the lawmakers should be allowed to resign their mandates. But no one is doing this either.

Yermak left, and now we have a new head of the Office who — either because of his professional background or character — does not pay attention to controlling parliament.

The president should not control the Rada, but parliament has found itself in a situation where people have been following someone’s instructions for seven years. They do not have the basic skills to take responsibility, to negotiate, to make decisions.

All that remains now is to force the MPs to come to parliament. Andriy Bohdan is no longer there, but Oleh Tatarov remains in the Office. There are always ways to force lawmakers to work. This definitely cannot be done with the statements the president throws around — that everyone should serve.

Because if you are ready to let legislators leave parliament — then go ahead. However, no one will let constituency MPs go. And this, by the way, is one of the reasons why they are afraid to release the party-list members. Because then they might lose even more constituency MPs, who said “We also asked.”

Can parliament block the distribution of money by the government?

For this, parliament needs 226 votes. I doubt they will gather that many.

Obviously, the initiatives that were announced [cashback on fuel, payment of 1,500 hryvnias ($34)] are within the existing expenditure structure that already was. That is, it will not require approval of any budget changes by parliament.

Another matter is that parliament can take this into account for the future. When the government comes again with budget changes — and this is inevitable, as they are adopted throughout the year — it will be much harder for them to negotiate with lawmakers.

Even the most die-hard fans of Mr. Zelenskyy were saying about the distribution of these Approximately 13 million people will be eligible to receive a payment of 1,500 hryvnias, for a total of 20 billion hryvnias.20 billion ($456 million): “No, there has to be some limit.” It was just too much.

On mobilization and terms of service

The previous Minister of Defense, Denys Shmyhal, developed the idea that we will transition to a fully contract army. In particular, those already mobilized will be able to sign a contract for at least two years, and after that, they will have the right to a 12-month deferment.

When this was announced, the president said that these would be absolutely fair contracts for everyone. I’m sorry, but when you make the same conditions for people who have served four years and those who have not served at all, it has nothing to do with fairness.

Now there is a new defense minister. I spoke with Mykhailo Fedorov before his appointment about these contracts, that approaches need to be reviewed. He said, “I need to delve into it.”

And as of now, they have no solution regarding new contracts. As far as I know, they are trying to look at the picture more systematically — to recalculate how many are actually serving, how many we need.

I have questions about the final goal of this. Could the goal be to say: we have everything under control, we have enough people, we won’t mobilize anyone else? I can also predict such an option.

The minister does not have much time left to publicly explain what exactly he plans to do about this. He has a good reputation from his time at the Ministry of Digital Transformation, but the Ministry of Digital Transformation focuses on developing a phone app. This is much simpler than managing hundreds of thousands of people under conditions of conflicting desires.

On attacks on military recruiters

It hurts me that we never hear a reaction from the highest political leadership. Where is the president’s statement that touching military TRC staff is unacceptable?

If military TRC personnel beat up the mobilized, violate their rights, or take away their phones — that is unacceptable, there are no questions here. On the other hand, military TRC personnel end up being scapegoats. Because there is a plan, people need to be mobilized.

Everyone says: we need to talk normally [with those liable for military service]. A wonderful theory. In practice, military TRC personnel approach a person, and they say, “Go to hell.” They turn around and leave. What next? Especially under conditions where neither the president nor the defense minister — no one says that the situation is critical, that people are needed at the front.

Even the very fact that the president tasked Minister Fedorov with “how to overcome Ukrainian term for forced mobilizationbussification” and not, for example, how to establish an adequate mobilization process. He could have formulated it differently.

And why didn’t he formulate it that way? Formulations matter. This is pandering to the electorate. This is not a statesmanlike position. Because a statesmanlike position now is that the country is in a critical situation, and we all need to pull ourselves together.

Is giving non-lethal weapons to military TRC staff a solution?

This solution will be 100% controversial [in society].

Now the abbreviation TRC has become offensive. I don’t think it will be possible to radically change the TRC's image at this stage. In particular, due to the significant resources that the Russians invest in psyops around this topic, and the fact that some Ukrainian politicians pick it up.

Therefore, the circle of responsible people involved in this process needs to be expanded. This includes local authorities, state authorities, police, and anyone else — so that these moods and reactions of people are not channeled only towards military TRC personnel.

This piece was created with the support of the Fund for Local Cooperation of the Embassy of Finland in Ukraine.