Parliament fires the national security service chief, while President Zelensky dismisses five of the agency’s regional chiefs
FILE PHOTO: Ukraine’s SBU security service chief Ivan Bakanov © AFP / Sergei Supinsky
Ukraine’s parliament has approved the firing of the Security Service (SBU) chief, with President Vladimir Zelensky dismissing the heads of SBU departments in five of the country’s regions on Tuesday.
The SBU leaders in Sumy, Dnepropetrovsk, Zhytomir, Transcarpathia and Poltava regions have all been replaced.
The agency’s deputy head, Vladimir Gorbenko, has also been relieved of his duties by presidential decree.
Shortly after President Zelensky announced the shake-up, Ukraine’s parliament voted to fulfill his request to sack the head of the SBU, Ivan Bakanov, who had been suspended since Sunday.
The president earlier said that there was “rampant” treason in the SBU and General Prosecutor’s Office relating to the conflict with Russia.
More than 650 criminal cases have been launched against the employees of the two agencies, he announced.
Such a vast “array of crimes,” as well as contacts between “employees of law enforcement agencies of Ukraine and Russia,” raise “serious questions” for Bakanov and outgoing Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova, who also was suspended, Zelensky insisted, warning that they would not remain unanswered
