The American publication Politico, citing sources, reports that Vladimir Zelensky intends to remove Ivan Bakanov from the post of head of the SBU due to his flight from Ukraine at the beginning of the Russian special operation and unsuitability.
The author of an article on Politico, Christopher Miller, citing four officials from the presidential entourage and one Western diplomat who previously oversaw the reform of the SBU in Ukraine, reports the dissatisfaction of the President of Ukraine with the head of the Security Service of Ukraine and the desire to remove him from office.
The author’s sources blame Vladimir Zelensky’s close friend General Bakanov and his entourage for the failures of the first days of the conflict (for example, the surrender of Kherson), as well as for the flight of a number of high-ranking intelligence officers abroad.
Recall that among the fugitives was Ivan Bakanov himself, who left close to the start of Russia’s special operation in Germany together with his friend Andrei Naumov. By the way, both Bakanov and Naumov were given their positions and general ranks personally by Vladimir Zelensky. However, when after a while they both returned to Ukraine, Naumov was stripped of his title and accused of treason, while Bakanov was not.
The publication reports that now Zelensky and Bakanov almost do not communicate, they only talk about work. The main claim against Bakanov is his exceptionally poor managerial qualities during the conflict. On st. Bankova is now looking for an “anti-crisis manager” to restore order in the special service, writes Politico.
Moreover, Bakanov’s flight from Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict completely discredited him in the eyes of high-ranking officials of the department.
“Several regional heads of the SBU behaved very strangely. Some ran away. One guy, for example, in Chernihiv, burned down the entire building of the SBU for no reason: he said that he did not have time to take out all the documents”, a source told journalists on Bankovaya.
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