Zelensky fires intelligence chief and country’s attorney general for “high treason”

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Ukraine’s president accuses them of collaborating with the Russian army

Volodimir Zelensky has immediately fired the head of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), Ivan Bakanov, and the country’s Attorney General, Irina Venediktova, as the Ukrainian president announced this Sunday in a presidential decree, followed by a public appearance in which he has accused employees of both departments of committing treason against the Ukrainian state.

Venediktova, hitherto charged with prosecuting Russian war crimes, will be replaced by Oleksiy Simonenko while the replacement of Bakalov has not been announced, until now a member of the president’s closest circle of friends and whose president, according to sources from the American news portal Politico, had distanced itself after the fall of the Kherson region into Russian hands during the early weeks of the war.

According to the decision published on the website of the Ukrainian Presidency, Bakalov has been dismissed in accordance with Article 47 of the Disciplinary Statute of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which refers to the “failure to perform (or incorrectly perform) duties of service with the resulting cost of life. For its part, the prosecutor was dismissed on the basis of the war powers that Zelensky took over after the Russian invasion of the country, without giving further details. The decree refers specifically to Article 11 of the martial law which force in Ukraine and that “gives the president the power to dismiss an official whose appointment falls under his authority”.

“Betrayal Against the Fatherland”

In a public appearance after the announcement of the layoffs, Ukraine’s president argued that about 60 staffers from the Attorney General’s Office and the security service “remained in the Russian-occupied territories and cooperated with the Russians” .

“Such a series of crimes against the foundations of the national security of the state and the connections established between the employees of the Ukrainian security forces and Russia’s special services raise very serious questions about their respective leaders,” the official said. president in a speech collected on the presidency website.

Zelensky cited as an example the arrest this weekend of the former head of the SBU for Crimea, Oleg Kulinich, on charges of treason. The president had fired him in March, a few days after the conflict started.

Ukrainian authorities suspect that Kulinich, appointed by Bakalov, ordered the dismantling of Ukrainian minefields along the Crimean demarcation line last winter, allowing Russian troops to advance very easily to the south of the country, particularly taking the Kherson region.

“This person was fired by me at the start of the large-scale invasion and, as we can see, that decision was absolutely justified, and we have gathered enough evidence to inform this person of suspected treason,” he said.

The president added: “All those who together with him were part of a criminal group that colluded with the Russian Federation will also be held responsible for the transfer of classified information to the enemy and other acts of cooperation with Russian special services.” .

The president assured in his address that “651 criminal proceedings have already been registered for treason and cooperative activities among prosecutors, investigative and other law enforcement officials.”

Finally, Zelenski requested the appointment of a new head of the country’s anti-corruption office, as well as that of an additional independent anti-corruption office, as requested at the time by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, as a condition of promoting Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, Bloomberg reports.

Source: La Verdad

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