Today, June 14, People's Deputy Oleksandra Ustinova announced illegal interference in the system of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in order to maintain high salaries for managers. According to her, the project of the resolution on reducing the salaries of employees of the Verkhovna Rada apparatus was attacked. Within ten minutes, 13 signatures were removed under this resolution, which provided for the dismissal of 1,150 people and a reduction in their salaries. Ustinova calls these actions a crime and illegal interference in the work of the parliamentary system. 
According to information, under the project of the resolution on the reduction of staff, the deputies collected signatures, having discovered that there are "dead souls" among the recipients of awards, the number of which reaches 200 people. Nardepka also noted that the salary of the head of the secretariat or his deputy varies between 1.2-1.5 million hryvnias per year, while the chairman of the committee and deputies receive 400-500 thousand hryvnias annually.
Halyna Tretyakova, head of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Social Policy and Protection of Veterans' Rights, representing the "Servant of the People" faction, also spoke about the events that took place in the parliamentary apparatus. She indicated that when staff members found out about the layoff initiative, they began calling and using other methods of influencing deputies to protect their salaries. Tretyakova emphasized that at this stage, deputies do not have the right to independently cancel their signatures under initiatives, and this should be done through an appeal to the Verkhovna Rada apparatus.
Ustinova and Tretyakova also noted that 13 deputies submitted applications for cancellation of signatures within only 10 minutes, after which their signatures were removed from the system.
"At the registration there was a draft resolution on reducing the salaries of employees of the Verkhovna Rada, who now receive millions, and this is not a joke... The number of signatories was about 100, when signatures began to disappear from the project. Physically disappear. Thus, 13 signatures disappeared within 10 minutes, which is technically impossible to do without interfering with the system," Tretyakova wrote.
She emphasized that currently there are 200 vacancies in the Apparatus of the BP. But the funds provided for their maintenance are redistributed to top-up payments to the management. At the same time, the deputies proposed to direct them to increase the salary fund of their assistants-consultants of the deputies.
Tretyakov called such actions an abuse of the powers of the Apparatus of the Verkhovna Rada. According to her, his employees put pressure on the deputies, threatening to block travel abroad.
"These are the methods currently prevailing in the Apparatus of the VRU. You didn't hear that, the head of the VRU staff is threatening the deputies," the deputy emphasized.
It is noted that the estimate of the Verkhovna Rada for 2024 foresees budget funding for the Management of the Affairs of the BP Apparatus in the total amount of UAH 2.95 billion, which is more than UAH 300 million more than what was foreseen for last year.
The increase in expenses in the parliament was explained, in particular, by the fact that payments to people's deputies depend on the size of the subsistence minimum, which will increase to UAH 3,028 from January 1, 2024 (in the current budget period, it is UAH 2,684).
It is planned to allocate UAH 1.41 billion for the implementation of law-making activities, including UAH 945.77 million for wages with accruals, and another UAH 424.36 million for the social security of deputies. In 2023, payments to deputies were supposed to amount to UAH 840 million in total.
UAH 1.13 billion is provided for the organizational, informational, analytical, and logistical support of the Parliament's work, in particular, UAH 1.01 billion for labor costs.
