The head of the Presidential Secretariat wrote a letter of resignation

The head of the Presidential Secretariat (SP) Viktor Baloga announced his readiness to resign. Meanwhile, experts are not inclined to regard this step as a break in relations between the president and the head of his secretariat. Kommersant's interlocutors say one of the reasons for Mr. Baloga's departure is the impossibility of combining work in the joint venture with leading the campaign headquarters of Viktor Yushchenko in the presidential elections.

On Saturday, the head of the Presidential Secretariat, Viktor Baloga, told the online publication Ukrayinska Pravda that he had submitted his resignation to President Viktor Yushchenko. “A month ago, long before the start of my vacation, I wrote a resignation letter to President Viktor Yushchenko,” said Mr. Baloga. “In the statement, I gave reasons for my decision. Now the decision is up to the president.” Let us recall that Viktor Baloga was appointed head of the joint venture by presidential decree on September 15, 2006. He refused to give reasons for his departure. Mr. Baloga also did not answer Kommersant’s phone calls. But his political comrades willingly did this. True, none of them agreed to talk to Kommersant “on the record.”

“The main reason for Viktor Baloga’s resignation is preparation for the presidential elections,” a high-ranking employee of the joint venture told Kommersant. “Yushchenko considered that this time Baloga cannot simultaneously head the secretariat and deal with the elections.” And Viktor Ivanovich, by his nature, cannot be the head of the presidential secretariat and not control the election headquarters.

As is known, during the preparation for the early parliamentary elections of 2007, Mr. Baloga managed to combine the post of head of the joint venture and the post of head of the headquarters of the pro-presidential bloc "Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense".

Meanwhile, there is another version of Viktor Baloga’s departure - allegedly, disagreements arose between him and Viktor Yushchenko over the strategy of the presidential election campaign. “Baloga is a supporter of a tough scenario - early parliamentary and presidential elections, as well as amendments to the Constitution. Yushchenko adheres to a conservative model, which involves holding planned presidential elections,” a Kommersant source said, surrounded by the head of the joint venture.

It should be noted that discussions about the possible resignation of Viktor Baloga in the joint venture began at the beginning of last week, when the head of the secretariat did not return to work after the end of his vacation on May 12. The joint venture employees also suggested that Viktor Yushchenko would sign a statement today: “The president has several events planned with the participation of the press on Monday, at which the resignation of the head of the secretariat may well be announced.”

Political scientists point out that this is not the first time information about differences in the views of Viktor Baloga and Viktor Yushchenko has appeared. “The fundamental difference is that Baloga for the first time publicly confirmed the very fact of his statement,” notes Vladimir Fesenko, chairman of the board of the Penta Center for Applied Political Research. In his opinion, if the president satisfies Mr. Baloga’s statement, this will mean that the issue of holding early parliamentary elections is removed from the agenda. However, the director of the Institute of Global Strategies, Vadim Karasev, who is close to the head of the joint venture, believes that a break in relations between the president and the head of the joint venture should not be expected. “If Viktor Baloga leaves the post of head of the joint venture, he will still remain on Viktor Yushchenko’s team and, perhaps, head one of the election headquarters,” he says.

Alexander Kommersant-Sviridenko

Victor Baloga goes around the bush