Ukraine: Best friends play a blame game with national security
2 Min Read
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to fire the head of Security Services (BSU) Ivan Bakanov for allowing a series of calamities in his agency since the start of the war with Russia.
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Volodymyr Zelensky on the set of the satire “Servant of the People,” in 2019 (AFP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is purportedly set to fire Ivan Bakanov, head of Ukraine’s Security Services (SBU), according to four Ukrainian officials cited in a Politico report published on Thursday.
Bakanov is Zelensky’s childhood friend, and have known each other since high school. Prior to Zelensky assuming Presidency, when he was still a comedian, Bakanov served as his manager. Supposedly, and according to the above-mentioned report, the head of the BSU has expressed anger toward the President’s alleged unprofessionalism.
On the other hand, President Zelensky reportedly blames Bakanov for allowing a series of calamities and mass desertions in his agency since the start of the war with Russia. The President is now set to replace him with someone “more suitable to serve as the wartime chief of the SBU.”
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According to a senior Ukrainian source who spoke with Politico on the condition of anonymity, Kiev officials have allegedly been "very unsatisfied" with Bakanov's performance as the country's top spy and have been aggressively attempting to "get rid of him."
“We are not satisfied with his managerial, you know, [skills] because now you need … anti-crisis management skills like we don’t think that he has,” the anonymous official said.
Bakanov was directly chosen for the job by Zelensky in 2019 after he assumed the Presidency office, given that Bakanov has been one of his most trusted confidants and business colleagues. Before taking over as the organization's overall leader later that year, he started off as the agency's First Deputy Head, managing its anti-corruption division.
Moreover, Bakanov has been under fire from Ukrainian opposition groups ever since he started working for the SBU. These parties contend that Bakanov's experience in the show industry makes him unqualified to lead the country's main intelligence agency.
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