On March 20, 2019, Yuriy Lutsenko, the prosecutor general of Ukraine, gave a controversial interview to The Hill political new website. His comments were saturated with speculation. Apart from the groundless attack against National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) director Artem Sytnyk and the U.S. Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch, Lutsenko also made some loud allegation claiming that Sytnyk closed criminal investigations against Mykola Zlochevsky’s Burisma company. On March 25, Ukrainian media announced that Lutsenko and Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Nazar Kholodnytsky recorded other pieces of the interview for The Hill regarding Burisma.

Burisma appeared in this scandal not accidentally. This is an energy exploration and production company operating in the Ukrainian oil and gas market. During President Viktor Yanukovych’s presidency, which ended on Feb. 22, 2014, amid the EuroMaidan Revolution, Zlochevsky used to be the minister of environmental protection in 2010-2012 and deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council in 2012-2014.