The Cabinet of Ministers dismissed Oleksiy Ivchenko as chairman of Naftogaz of Ukraine.

This was reported to journalists by the press secretary of the prime minister.

According to him, this decision was made in connection with the application submitted by Oleksiy Ivchenko.

Earlier, Oleksiy Ivchenko was dismissed from the position of chairman of the supervisory board of the open joint-stock company "Ukrnafta". Volodymyr Karetko, who had until then held the position of financial director of that company, was appointed chairman of the supervisory board of "Ukrnafta".

The appointment took place at today's extraordinary meeting of shareholders of "Ukrnafta", where the key issue for consideration was the change in the composition of the enterprise's supervisory board.

Volodymyr Karetko had until then been the financial director of OJSC "Ukrnafta", and shortly before his appointment as chairman of the supervisory board, in March, he headed "Nadra Ukrainy".

The former chairman of the board of "Nadra Ukrainy", Ihor Romanenko, at that time linked his dismissal by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the appointment of Mr. Karetko in his place to the fact that the Ministry of Natural Resources supposedly preferred to block the transfer of licenses and rights to develop deposits to "Nadra".

Changes to the composition of the supervisory board of "Ukrnafta", according to the newspaper "Delo" on Thursday, were proposed by one of the company's shareholders who owns more than 10% of the shares.

The controlling stake in "Ukrnafta" belongs to the state and is managed by the company "Naftogaz Ukrainy". Therefore, observers predicted that if Oleksiy Ivchenko left the position of chairman of the supervisory board of "Ukrnafta", the next step would be his further exit from the oil business with him leaving the position of chairman of "Naftogaz".

After the Ministry of Finance's accusations regarding several billion in shortfalls to the state budget due to VAT non-payment by "Naftogaz" and the scandal surrounding the too-expensive car of the head of NAK, observers increasingly boldly predicted the resignation of Oleksiy Ivchenko from the position of head of "Naftogaz Ukrainy".