Seven days after Russia invaded Ukraine, the southern city of Kherson was the first major town to fall to Russian forces. The rapidity of the advance was partly due to the fact that local officials at the Ukrainian security and intelligence agency – the SBU, heir to the KGB after independence in 1991 – did not destroy the Antonovskiy Bridge on the Dnipro River, allowing the Russians to enter. . This is just a case of collaborationism that may have led to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to remove the head of the SBU, Ivan Bakanov, a childhood friend he himself had appointed to the post in 2019. Ties within the prosecution -general with Moscow also led to the departure of prosecutor Iryna Venediktova.
In a video released on Sunday night, in which he announced the resignations (his office explained yesterday that both are suspended, pending investigation), Zelensky revealed that more than 60 SBU and prosecutorial officers are working against Ukraine in the territory. occupied by Russia, and 651 cases were opened for treason and collaborationism.
“Such a number of crimes against the foundations of national security and the links established between Ukrainian agents and Russian secret services pose very serious questions to the respective leaders,” Zelensky said, reiterating that such questions must be answered. The president had come under fire in 2019 when he appointed inexperienced people to top positions, including Bakanov himself.
The decision to fire the childhood friend (both grew up in Kryvyi Rih) who helped him run his media business when he was a television star, and ultimately his presidential campaign, came as no surprise to analysts. A month ago, the Politico website, citing several anonymous sources, had revealed that the president was looking for a replacement for Bakanov – despite fearing the reading that would be made of the resignation of a member of his close circle.
Read more in Diário de Notícias
