Home › Politics › What happened on 20 January 2020 after Honcharuk's offer
What happened on 20 January 2020 after Honcharuk's offer
Summary
A retrospective on the Ukrainian government's leaked-audio dispute and the anger in Iran over Flight 752, as reported in the days before 20 January 2020.
What was the state of play on 20 January 2020, as two separate stories kept drawing attention to Ukraine? One was a political row in Kyiv; the other was public anger in Iran over the downing of a Ukrainian airliner.
A resignation offered, then set aside
On 17 January 2020, Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk submitted his resignation. The step followed the leak earlier that week of an audio clip in which he was allegedly heard criticising the economic policies of President Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky subsequently announced that Honcharuk was allowed to keep his position.
Anger in Iran over Flight 752
The other story concerned Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, which, as was later established, had been shot down by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on 8 January 2020. Protests followed once this was revealed. They formed part of wider unrest in Iran in January 2020.
On 17 January 2020, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei gave a Friday sermon, his first in eight years. He defended the Revolutionary Guards over the accidental killing of passengers aboard the flight, and praised Operation Martyr Soleimani for delivering what he called a slap on the face to the United States. His sermon came as public anger at the government's handling of Flight 752 was mounting.
By 20 January 2020, then, Kyiv's government had weathered an internal scare without a change of prime minister, while the aftermath of the airliner's destruction continued to weigh on Iran's leadership.
