The news of the dismissal of Ukrainian Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova and SBU Director Ivan Bakanov attracted the attention of news agencies and analysts, especially after it became known that the dismissed intelligence director had been a close and personal friend of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky since childhood, who said that the dismissals were associated with “possible betrayal”.
However, what was new was revealed by the message of the American newspaper The New York Times, which said that the relationship between Zelensky and Bakanov goes back decades.
The report added that the two also worked in entertainment, with Zelensky as an actor and Bakanov as director of the Kvartal 95 studio.
He said officials in Zelensky’s government blamed Bakanov for intelligence failures and errors that allowed the Russian army to take the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine almost without a fight.
As for Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova, the court of the National Anti-Corruption Department of Ukraine ordered an investigation into the fact that she did not indicate her property in the declaration of financial assets and income, which officials are required to provide.
Notably, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Sunday evening the dismissal of Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova and head of the security services Ivan Bakanov due to numerous suspicions that there were several cases of treason committed by local officials in favor of the Russians.
In his speech, Zelensky said that in total, 651 treason cases were initiated against law enforcement officers, and more than 60 prosecutors and SBU employees are still in the “occupied territories” and work against the state. .
The Security Service of Ukraine, known by the Ukrainian abbreviation “SBU”, is the main body of internal security and intelligence in Ukraine.
