As the Ukrainegate scandal has once again hit headlines both in Ukraine and the United States, Ukraine’s ex-Prosecutor General of a rather controversial reputation, Yuriy Lutsenko, decided to retaliate. After his name has resurfaced in various reports concerning the Giuliani probe, Mr. Lutsenko presented his version of what had happened in a now-deleted interview with the Pryamiy channel.
On Saturday, May 28, Ukraine’s former Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko – a name that has often emerged as part of the Ukrainegate saga – joined Peter Zalmayev and Taras Berezovets for an interview with the Pryamiy channel.
Mr. Lutsenko’s most recent public appearance came amid US media reports suggesting that, in 2019, federal prosecutors in New York seized email account evidence believed to belong to the ex-top prosecutor in question. Moreover, CNN confirmed Yuriy Lutsenko’s name was mentioned in the search warrants against Giuliani.
As a result, Mr. Lutsenko came forward – again – with his version of the story. Lutsenko recalled his accusations against former Ambassador of the United States to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, as well as his cooperation-gone-wrong with Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
As per the Ukrainian ex-Prosecutor General, an American global investment firm Franklin Templeton laundered eight billion dollars in Ukraine – the funds that allegedly came from Ukraine’s ousted ex-president Yanukovych and his entourage. After Lutsenko’s concerns have been dismissed by Ambassador Yovanovitch, the man was contacted by Mr. Giuliani’s team.
“She [Yovanovitch] lied under oath when she said I didn’t give her details of the case. I have signatured documents confirming we gave her the detailed information. I was then cut off from all contacts with the American side, including the FBI, the Department of Justice, etc.,” Lutsenko claimed, with his “lying under oath” accusations being unconfirmed.
According to Yuriy Lutsenko, that’s when he was approached by “Odesa conmen” – clearly implicating the infamous duo of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman – on Giuliani’s behalf. At a meeting, Giuliani, as per Lutsenko’s newest account, agreed to start a joint investigation team concerning the eight billion; Giuliani, in turn, wanted to investigate Burisma.
In late spring-early summer 2018, Donald Trump’s personal attorney allegedly called Lutsenko and started yelling, throwing a tantrum about corruption in Ukraine and demanding a Burisma probe. Attempting to distance himself from the scandalous former New York mayor, Lutsenko said he told Giuliani to “shut up”. Needless to say, according to Lutsenko’s latest interview, the cooperation bore no fruition.
“After I was dismissed as the Prosecutor General, Giuliani sought the same from Yermak [then-aide to President Zelensky and current head of the Presidential Office] who promised to open the [Burisma] case and, most importantly, opened it. It became the highlight of the international part of last year’s presidential press conference; “We have opened the case against Poroshenko and Biden, and we’ll get to the bottom of the issue”. In my opinion, I stood close to the red line, yet I didn’t cross it,” Lutsenko told Pryamyi, likely alluding to either the Prosecutor General Office’s review of all Mykola Zlochevsky cases in 2020 or the case initiated by Viktor Shokin, Lutsenko’s predecessor, concerning his dismissal. The latter was closed in September 2020.
“Neither of the Bidens has committed a crime in the territory of Ukraine,” Lutsenko reaffirmed during the interview while seeking to shift the spotlight to Andriy Yermak. It’s worth noting that prior to the Giuliani-Yermak Madrid meeting in August 2019, former New York mayor pressured Yermak to announce the investigation of Burisma during a phone call on July 22, 2019.
For unknown reasons, Pryamiy has promptly deleted the interview from the public space. It’s unclear whether the channel’s decision is related to the Ukrainegate scandal or Yuriy Lutsenko’s comments on Ukraine’s domestic issues, such as the alleged Viktor Medvedchuk tapes.
While majorly mirroring his previous rhetoric – and clearly attempting to save the face amid the Giuliani probe – Lutsenko’s latest account of his involvement in the Ukrainegate story still added a few intriguing details to the case.
In particular, Ukraine’s controversial ex-top prosecutor claimed his meeting with Giuliani occurred in December 2017. At the time, Rudy Giuliani held no official position that would allow him to promise a “joint investigation team” to Lutsenko. In his previous accounts of the story, Mr. Lutsenko claimed he hoped the former mayor would help him get a meeting with U.S. Attorney General William Barr.
While looking into Mr. Lutsenko’s testimonies, however, one may question his veracity.
As recently as in late May 2021, Lutsenko claimed he “did not communicate with Giuliani either by phone or by mail”, as was reported by Reuters. This, in turn, directly contradicts the ex-prosecutor’s story about a phone call that resulted in Lutsenko telling Giuliani off.
At the same time, in 2019, Lutsenko told the U.S. columnist John Solomon he had evidence related to Ukrainian gas company Burisma and Biden's son Hunter, who had served on Burisma’s board of directors. Lutsenko later changed his narrative, concurring that there was no evidence of wrongdoing by either Hunter or Joe Biden in Ukraine.
One fact is clear: Yuriy Lutsenko offered to investigate Burisma and the Biden family; in exchange, he insisted on the dismissal of the US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, whom he had clashed with. Lutsenko also connected a Burisma probe and Yovanovitch’s dismissal in his text message exchange with Lev Parnas. Today – while not giving up his allegations against Ambassador Yovanovitch – the ex-Prosecutor General attempts to distance himself from the Giuliani probe and his previous engagement with the former New York mayor.
