KYIV, March 10 - The deputy head of Ukraine’s central bank on Wednesday accused her own press office of trying to censor comments she gave to a local media outlet, an allegation the bank’s press chief denied, Reuters reported.

The interview by First Deputy Governor Kateryna Rozhkova comes at a sensitive time in Ukraine’s negotiations with the International Monetary Fund after concerns over the central bank’s independence derailed loan talks last year.

The central bank has repeatedly insisted it was independent and its decision-making process was not politicized, after Governor Yakiv Smoliy resigned last year alleging political meddling.

“My interview for Novoe Vremya NV in its original form was forbidden by the management of the communications department of the National Bank,” Rozhkova wrote on Facebook on Wednesday, an allegation echoed by NV in the interview text.

She said that a few hours after giving the interview National Bank of Ukraine Governor Kyrylo Shevchenko signed an order banning comment on the internal situation in the bank, personnel policy and cooperation with the IMF.

“This is another example of censorship in the National Bank of Ukraine, which appeared in August 2020 after the change of leadership of the NBU and a number of personnel changes in key departments,” Rozhkova said.

The head of the central bank media team denied the accusations calling them a distortion of the facts and slander.

Galyna Kalachova said that Rozhkova had been asked to adjust the text of her interview to avoid reputational risks.

“Every employee of the National Bank and especially its top managers must take care of the reputation of the National Bank and not harm it,” Kalachova wrote on Facebook.

She added that the press team had not changed the interview.

In her interview, Rozhkova said that the NBU’s governance had not been the IMF’s focus since 2015, when a law was passed to strengthen its independence, and that the IMF and the European Union had praised the NBU’s reforms.

“Now, for the first time in recent history, the issue of the National Bank’s independence and the quality of prudential supervision has resurfaced,” she said.

Rozhkova is one of only two members of the bank’s board from Smoliy’s time that are still in place after a reshuffle following the appointment of Shevchenko as Smoliy’s successor.

Timothy Ash, head of emerging market research at Blue Bay Asset Management, said the dispute reflected disagreement within the bank about how it should operate.

“Sense this is also something of a cultural battle about the identity of the NBU - those wanting a modern, Western style institution, and those who still harbor old school centralizing and control impulses,” Ash wrote on Twitter. (rt/ez)