ICYMI – A top security officer in Ukraine was terminated by President Zelensky.
State Security Service head Ivan Bakanov was one of two top officials terminated.
The second was Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova.
The firing of Bakanov is of particular interest because he is a childhood friend and former business partner of Zelensky’s.
Treason
Zelensky has had problems like this before, but they never ran this deep in terms of completely penetrating the government.
Zelensky stated, “In particular, more than 60 employees of the prosecutor’s office and the [state security service] have remained in the occupied territory and work against our state.
“Such an array of crimes against the foundation of the state’s national security, and the links recorded between Ukrainian security forces and Russian special services raise very serious questions about their respective leaders.”
He continued, “As of today, 651 criminal proceedings have been registered regarding treason and collaboration activities of employees of prosecutor’s offices, pretrial investigation bodies and other law enforcement agencies.”
This is far from the end of this purge.
Zelensky added, “The specific actions and any inaction of each official in the security sector and in law enforcement agencies will be evaluated.
“The corresponding inspection of law enforcement agencies has already yielded the first results and will be continued.”
This is just devastating in terms of optics for Zelensky, especially when it comes to needing more aid from the United States.
Republicans are already up in arms on this front and he has just given the GOP significantly more ammunition to make their case that the faucets need to be turned off.
Source: New York Post
