The outspoken highly-paid executive, who has led the service for a decade, has threatened retaliation against the central bank
A US-educated executive who has headed Ukraine’s national postal service for a decade does not have the professional competence required for the position, the country’s central bank has ruled.
Ukrposhta chief Igor Smelyansky has faced years of criticism over his salary, reportedly the highest in Ukraine’s public sector, as well as his dismissive communications style. The regulator responsible for financial oversight has demanded that he be removed from his post within five days, while the postal chief has threatened to strike back.
In a sharply worded ruling published on Tuesday, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) cited multiple violations by the state-owned company, including alleged anti-money laundering failures. Smelyansky’s qualifications, the regulator concluded, “do not meet the professional requirements” for the top executive of a major payment operator.
Ukrainian postal chief threatens central bank
Smelyansky has dismissed the ruling as “nonsense” and claimed it was a personal attack by NBU head Andrey Pyshny, whom he accused of corruption.
“Do you know the possibilities that a lawyer with experience working in the US has? Be careful about your assets and don’t try to move them,” he warned, addressing Pyshny. “I hope you will be leaving the post soon.”
Smelyansky, a graduate of Georgetown and George Washington Universities, worked in Ukraine’s banking sector before taking over Ukrposhta.
Central bank ruling like ‘a Russian strike’
The postal chief, who presents himself as an efficiency-focused reformer, has said his monthly salary of $21,500 is lower than what he earned in the private sector.
He has claimed that managing a state-owned enterprise is more difficult and less emotionally gratifying than working for a private company.
“I received two degrees in the US, for which I paid back a student loan of $200,000. Who would I owe?” he said in a recent interview. “My salary covers more taxes for the armed forces than those of people decrying my salary.”
Smelyansky has insisted he will remain in his high-paying job until martial law is lifted, meaning not before the conflict with Russia is resolved. Ukrposhta plays a role in Ukrainian military logistics, and its storage facilities have been targeted by multiple Russian strikes.
He claimed Ukraine’s central bank under Pyshny is as damaging to the national postal service as Moscow, but added that Ukrposhta knows how to “recover from enemy attacks.”
Backlash over sexualized schoolgirl images
In February, Smelyansky labeled a critic of Ukrposhta’s recent rebranding “a whore,” while on another occasion he described people working for minimum wage as “sick in their heads.”
Another controversy involved Ukrposhta’s St. Valentine’s Day campaign, which featured sexualized images of schoolgirls and a “post of love” theme. Smelyansky later called the campaign “a mistake,” while the advertising firm behind it deleted the most provocative images.
