President's Office fails to answer Bihus.Info query on Yermak's new deputies

The President's Office failed to answer the query by the Bihus.Info chief editor Maksym Opanasenko regarding the new deputies of Andriy Yermak, the head of the President's Office.

Maksym Opanasenko reported this on Facebook and shared the details in a comment to Valentyna Troyan, an Institute of Mass Information representative.

Maksym Opanasenko told the IMI that he had submitted the query back on October 9, 2024, and the deadline for a response had already expired. He also said that he has no assumptions about who exactly would be responsible for approving his query.

"I asked about the people appointed as advisors to the new deputy heads of the Office (they are no longer 'new' now since the query has been lying somewhere all this time). Basically, my entire question boiled down to 'please give me the full names of the people appointed as advisors to so-and-so and so-and-so.' Doesn't seem so complicated," Opanasenko wrote on Facebook.

Having received no reply, he called and asked "how's the answer going" again.

"First time, I heard laughter and then, 'Well, it’s beeing approved by you know who.' Second time, 'Nothing has changed.' Third time, 'Well, you can call my boss if you want. But I won’t give you the number, I’m not authorized to give out numbers,'" the journalist wrote.

IMI lawyer Roman Holovenko noted that the wording in the query submitted by Maksym Opanasenko falls under the criteria of public information, so it should not be considered as a citizen’s appeal (the Law of Ukraine “On Citizens’ Appeals” allows much more time for processing a request).