WARSAW —
Ukraine’s army is putting up fierce frontline resistance against Russian
troops, but
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s shock dismissal of two top law
enforcement officials has revealed another front in the war closer to home —
against spies and Kremlin sympathizers.
اضافة اعلان
His dismissal of SBU security chief Ivan Bakanov, a childhood friend of
President Zelensky, and of prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova, is
unprecedented since the start of the invasion.
The decision was
announced Sunday and approved by parliament on Tuesday, with Zelensky berating
the pair for their failure to counter the activities of Russian spies and
collaborators in Ukraine.
In his daily
video address, he said there were over 650 cases involving officials suspected
of treason and aiding Russia, including 60 “working against our state” in
Russian-held areas of the country.
“Everyone was
expecting ... more tangible results” from Bakanov and Venediktova in “fighting
collaborators and traitors”, said Andriy Smyrnov, deputy head of the
presidential administration.
‘The last straw’
“The president and his cabinet were not pleased with the work of
Bakanov and Venediktova” even before the Russian invasion,
Ukrainian political
analyst Volodymyr Fesenko told AFP.
In the last few
months, at least three top SBU officials have been accused of high treason.
One of them,
Oleg Kulinich, who was sacked in March and was arrested on Sunday, had been
based in the southern region of Kherson.
Situated close to the Crimean peninsula which was annexed by Moscow in
2014, the region was quickly taken over by Russian troops at the start of the
invasion — a significant setback for which the government was heavily
criticized.
“This man was
collaborating with Russian secret services. It is a very serious blow. In my
view, it was the last straw for Zelensky,” Fesenko said.
Zelensky had
already sacked the regional head of the SBU for Kherson, Sergiy Kryvoruchko.
Another SBU
official is suspected of having shared with Russian troops top secret maps of
minefields intended to hamper their advance.
Zelensky on
Monday said there would be a “review” within the SBU, pointing out that 28
agents could be sacked for “unsatisfactory” work.
One of Bakanov’s
deputies has also been sacked.
Prisoner exchanges
at risk?
Venediktova was heading up the high-profile investigations into
atrocities committed by Russian forces, particularly in the town of Bucha,
which became a symbol of the alleged Russian war crimes.
According to the
influential news site
Ukrainska Pravda, she incurred the wrath of the
presidency by attracting excessive media attention and for rushing through
trials of captured Russian soldiers.
According to the
report, the trials angered Moscow and made negotiations over prisoner swaps — a
priority for Zelensky — more difficult.
For many
observers in Ukraine, the reshuffle appears to have been a move to reinforce
presidential control over law enforcement.
The interim
replacements of both Bakanov and Venediktova — their respective deputies — are
considered to be more politically docile.
“It is clear”
that these men “will execute all the political orders” of the presidency, said
Tetyana Shevchuk, an expert from the Centre for Action Against Corruption, an
NGO, cited by Forbes Ukraine.
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