Zelensky on possible full control of Rada to president: This won't happen, I don't need any power

TRUSKAVETS. Oct 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) – President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has denied information that if Ruslan Stefanchuk is elected speaker of parliament, the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada, like the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), can become completely controlled by the head of state with regard to making dubious decisions in terms of legality and constitutionality.

"You can calm down: this will not happen, so as not to answer for a long time … Regarding the concentration of power. I don’t need any power. I came to change something, I promised something," the presidential press service quoted Zelensky as saying when speaking in Truskavets on Saturday, where a visiting session of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction was taking place.

"And if there are certain delays on this path – let’s pave another path. Or give the wheel to another ‘driver.’ And let this person, as it was before, the president, the speaker and the prime minister, work from three different teams, let there be no concentration at all, let all decisions be made for years, let’s try this," he added.

At the same time, the head of state recalled that one of the first "powerful actions" by the NSDC concerned the prohibition "for some judges of the Constitutional Court to cancel the reforms."

Zelensky stressed that the NSDC is an effective body today.