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Kyiv's parliament changed speaker in October 2021
Summary
A look back at the week in which the Verkhovna Rada dismissed Dmytro Razumkov and elected Ruslan Stefanchuk, as gas supply worries also drew attention.
What was the state of Ukrainian politics on 13 October 2021? The Verkhovna Rada, the country's parliament, had just changed its leadership, and the president was voicing concern about Russian leverage over gas supplies.
On 7 October 2021, the Verkhovna Rada voted to remove Dmytro Razumkov from the post of speaker. As reported at the time, the dismissal followed his disagreements with President Volodymyr Zelensky and the ruling Servant of the People party over legislation intended to reduce the influence of Ukrainian oligarchs.
On 8 October 2021, the Rada elected Ruslan Stefanchuk as its new speaker. The change came within the 9th convocation, which meets in Kyiv and began its term on 29 August 2019.
Gas and the Nord Stream agreement
On 12 October 2021, the European Union pledged to help Ukraine with its gas supplies. The pledge came as Zelensky stressed his concern that Russia could gain political leverage in the region after the agreement with Germany over the Nord Stream pipeline.
Two threads, one week
The two developments were separate. One concerned the balance of power inside Ukraine's parliament and the president's party. The other concerned energy security and the country's relations with its European partners. Together they marked a week in which domestic politics and regional energy concerns drew attention at the same time, as of 13 October 2021.
