প্রকাশ: 18/07/2022
President Volodymyr
Zelenskiy on Sunday abruptly fired the head of Ukraine's powerful domestic
security agency, the SBU, and the state prosecutor general, citing dozens of
cases of collaboration with Russia by officials in their agencies.
The sackings of SBU chief Ivan Bakanov, a childhood friend
of Zelenskiy, and Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, who has played a key
role in the prosecution of Russian war crimes, were announced in executive
orders on the president's website.
The firings are easily the biggest political sackings since
Russia invaded on Feb. 24, forcing the entire Ukrainian state machine to focus
on the war effort.
In a Telegram post, Zelenskiy said he had fired the top
officials because it had come to light that many members of their agencies had
collaborated with Russia, a problem he said had touched other agencies as well.
He said 651 cases of alleged treason and collaboration had
been opened against prosecutorial and law enforcement officials, and that more
than 60 officials from Bakanov and Venediktova's agencies were now working
against Ukraine in Russian-occupied territories.
The sheer number of treason cases lays bare the huge
challenge of Russian infiltration faced by Ukraine as it battles Moscow in what
it says is a fight for survival.
"Such an array of crimes against the foundations of the
national security of the state ... pose very serious questions to the relevant
leaders," Zelenskiy said.
"Each of these questions will receive a proper
answer," he said.
Russian troops have captured swathes of Ukraine's south and
east during an invasion that has killed thousands, displaced millions and
destroyed cities.
It remains unclear how the southern, Russian-occupied region
of Kherson fell so quickly, in contrast to the fierce resistance around Kyiv
that forced Russia eventually to withdrew to focus on capturing the industrial
Donbas heartland in the east.
In his nightly speech to the nation, Zelenskiy noted the
recent arrest on suspicion of treason of the SBU's former head overseeing the
region of Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014 that Kyiv and the
West still view as Ukrainian land.
Zelenskiy said he had fired the top security official at the
start of the invasion, a decision he said had now been shown to be justified.
"Sufficient evidence has been collected to report this
person on suspicion of treason. All his criminal activities are
documented," he said.
Bakanov was appointed to head the SBU in 2019, one of an
array of new faces who rose to prominence after Zelenskiy, a former comedian,
won election earlier that year.
Zelenskiy appointed Oleksiy Symonenko as the new prosecutor
general in a separate executive order that was also published on the
president's site.
– Reuters
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