In a recent speech, President Zelenskyy fired 28 employees of Ukraine’s security service SBU. Last weekend, more than 60 employees at the Attorney General’s office and SBU were dismissed. Among them are Attorney General Iryna Venediktova and head of the security service Ivan Bakanov. Bakanov, who is suspended, is a childhood friend and fellow student of the president. Taken together, “the reasons are the same: Inadequate results,” the president said in his video speech. Zelenskyj says charges of treason have been brought against 651 employees of the security and judicial apparatus. The reason must be cooperation with Russia or work against Ukraine’s interests. SUSPENDED: Former state prosecutor Iryna Venediktova is one of several top people who have been removed by President Zelenskyj. Photo: Nariman El-Mofty / AP MUST GO: Head of the security service Ivan Bakanov was fired on Sunday. The picture is from 2019. Photo: Efrem Lukatsky / AP Venediktova and Bakanov are not suspected of treason, but of not keeping their agencies in order, the Ukrainian authorities clarified today. Fear of Russian spies It has been over five months since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine. Since then, at least 5,024 civilians have been killed, according to the UN. The number is probably much higher. Researcher Jørn Holm-Hansen at OsloMet says the news about Zelenskyi’s dismissals did not come as a surprise: There has been expressed dissatisfaction with the two high-profile leaders who have now been suspended. – Some of the frustration is about the military losses Ukraine has suffered, especially after they lost the city of Kherson. The city fell to the Russians in March. Russian soldiers patrol the Ukrainian city of Kherson. Photo: AP Many believed that Ukrainians on the inside had helped the Russians, for example by leaving maps of where mines were located. An important bridge, which should have been blown up to prevent the Russian advance, stood intact. Holm-Hansen says the fear of so-called Trojan horses, i.e. Russians on the inside of Ukraine’s state apparatus, is great. – The Russians are good at this. It is probably easier to infiltrate Ukraine than in many other countries. Many people speak Russian there, and it is difficult to tell the difference between Ukrainians and Russians, says Holm-Hansen. Last week, the head of the SBU on the Crimean peninsula, Oleh Kulinych, was arrested on suspicion of treason. Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014. According to President Zelenskyy, more than 60 former Ukrainian employees are now working in the Russian-occupied territories on the Russian side. INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF WAR AND AEI’S CRITICAL THREATS PROJECT / news (Updated 19 July 2022)INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF WAR AND AEI’S CRITICAL THREATS PROJECT / news (Updated 19 July 2022) Gathering power Jørn Holm-Hansen says it in Ukrainian the media are speculating whether the many dismissals are also about a power struggle close to the president himself. One of those who emerges strengthened from the clean-up is the president’s chief of staff Andrij Jermak. He is a former film producer and has been a friend of Zelenskyj since 2011. According to Politico, many see Jermak as Ukraine’s second most powerful man. – It is said that Yermak is building up his own power base. Hardly to take power from the president, but to have more control. He is said to have competed with the suspended Bakanov for Zelenskyi’s ear, says Holm-Hansen, citing Ukrainian media. The man who takes over the security service SBU is Vasyl Maljuk, who is supposed to be one of Yermak’s allies. MORE POWER: Chief of Staff Andrij Jermak together with the UK ambassador in Kyiv on 19 July. Photo: UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SER / Reuters – To gain more control Several analysts also see this as a way for the president to gather power in a war situation. – This is not doing the right thing. This is to gain more control, says Tetiana Shevchuk to Politico. She is a lawyer and activist at the Anti-Corruption Action Center in Kyiv. Ukraine has applied for EU membership, but is struggling with widespread corruption. The country is in 122nd place out of 180 countries on the corruption index of Transparency International. Russia is in 136th place. Holm-Hansen points out that Zelenskyj has fired a number of employees during his time as president. – This is not the first time Zelenskyj has fired people, including people who have been close to him. Close friends were quickly fired if they did not deliver, says Holm-Hansen to news. He emphasizes that corruption is a major problem in Ukraine. It is a pervasive problem, the whole system is based on corruption and cronyism. When Zelenskyj won the election in April 2019, he was an outsider and promised a fight against corruption. But apparently he hasn’t been able to do that. – The new party was supposed to be uncorrupt. But it is probably just as corrupt as those before him, says Holm-Hansen.
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