Censor.net editor-in-chief accepted position of adviser in Ministry of Defense
Yuriy Butusov, editor-in-chief of the online publication Censor.Net, accepted the offer from the head of the Misnistry of Defense Andriy Taran to take up position of freelance adviser for two months. Yuriy Butusov said it on his Facebook page following a meeting with Defense Minister.
"As a result of the conversation, I decided to accept the offer to take up position of freelance adviser to the Minister of Defense for a period of two months," the journalist wrote.
According to him, the Minister offered him four positions: head of the department of regulatory and methodological support and monitoring of real estate and land of the Ministry of Defense; head of one of the departments in the department of military-technical policy; head of the information policy directorate; freelance adviser to the Minister of Defense on a voluntary basis to cover the problems of incompetence and corruption in the structures of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces, "without pay, with no office, with no authority, i.e. I remain a journalist."
According to Butusov, these positions "have no effect on anything in the Ministry of Defense and do not provide any access to decision-making."
"Other tertiary positions offered to me required the involvement of specialized specialists, not a journalist," the journalist wrote.
Butusov said that his publications on the Ministry of Defense, which "had a great resonance in the country's leadership” were the reason for "such an odd invitation via Facebook".
In two months, Butusov is to produce a series of stories on the problems of defense planning and army development. On February 20, he is commissioned to prepare a final report, based on the results of which he is to announce whether he will remain an advisor.
I won’t have my own office in the Ministry of Defense, I will not "deal with the issues", I will place "my people", I will remain a journalist. Now I am waiting for an answer from the Ministry of Defense that the Minister publicly confirm his proposal in the same manner in which he addressed it at first, ”Butusov wrote.
As IMI reported, on December 19, Defense Minister Andriy Taran was to meet with journalist Yuriy Butusov.
On December 8, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine offered the editor-in-chief of the online publication "Censor.NET" Yuriy Butusov "to take one of the ministerial positions."
On December 8, Yuriy Butusov said he accepted the ministry's proposal and published an work flow chart.
On December 9, the Ministry of Defense said to have learnt the journalist's program, which "demonstrated failure to understand the limits and content of the functional responsibilities of the positions he is applying for." At the same time, Butusov was invited for an interview on December 10.
On December 10, Butusov said that no Defense Ministry employee had contacted him during December 9 and that he had not received any offers to visit the ministry.
In response, the Ministry of Defense said that "as a result of a conversation with a respected journalist, personnel services are forced to report the lack of vacancies corresponding to the level of his ambitions, which currently exceed his level of necessary competencies."
The journalist said that he would sue the Ministry of Defense and would demand an apology from the ministry for public insults.
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