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The President removed the Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and the head of the SSU Ivan Bakanov. They will be replaced by Oleksiy Symonenko and Vasyl Malyuk. Who are they? ― short biographies

Authors:: Oksana Kovalenko, Maria Zhartovska
Editor:: Yevhen Spirin

Date:: 18:27, 18 july 2022

The President removed the Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and the head of the SSU Ivan Bakanov. They will be replaced by Oleksiy Symonenko and Vasyl Malyuk. Who are they? ― short biographies — Getty Images / «Babel'»

On the evening of July 17, President Volodymyr Zelensky suspended the Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and the head of the Security Service of Ukraine Ivan Bakanov from their duties. In his evening address, he explained that he did it because of the "array of crimes" committed by employees of the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office and the SSU. "This poses very serious questions to the leaders [of these structures]," Zelensky said. Deputy Head of the Office of the President Andriy Smyrnov explained that Bakanov and Venediktova have not yet been fired. They were removed from their positions so that they could not influence the investigation and identification of traitors in the SSU and the Prosecutorʼs Office. In addition, official investigations will be conducted in these establishments, and based on their results, the president will decide whether to appeal to the parliament to fire both officials. For the time being, the duties of the Prosecutor General will be performed by Venediktovaʼs deputy, Oleksiy Symonenko, and Vasyl Malyuk, the first deputy of the head of the SSU. Both are close to the deputy head of the Office of the President Oleg Tatarov

Oleg Tatarov, Deputy Head of the Office of the President. During the Revolution of Dignity, he worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs under Vitaliy Zakharchenko and justified the security forces when they beat and tortured protesters. Tatarov was also the lawyer of MP from the "Opposition Bloc" pro-Russian party Vadym Novinsky, and defended Andriy Portnov, former deputy head of the Administration of President Viktor Yanukovych. In Office of the President, he oversees relations with all law enforcement agencies. Tatarov appears in the NABU investigation, you can read about it in detail here (in Ukrainian).

and were present on his birthday celebration last August

This is an obvious conflict of interests, since these government officials work in law enforcement agencies. And in particular, Oleksiy Symonenko and Deputy Head of the National Police Maksym Tsutskiridze, who made efforts to destroy the Tatarovʼs criminal case, which was investigated by NABU, were present at Tatarovʼs party.

. Here are the key facts about the new faces — in a nutshell.

The unofficial reason for Venediktovaʼs suspension, according to Babel, is strained relations with the Presidentʼs Office. Babelʼs interlocutors in Servant of the People, pro-presidential and the most influential political party, and the leadership of the parliament have been talking about her possible dismissal since the beginning of June. Among the reasons — Venediktova poorly organized work on the investigation of war crimes committed by Russians in Ukraine, collection of evidences was not very effective. Also, investigations of cases against ex-president Petro Poroshenko, Putinʼs godfather Viktor Medvedchuk, and others, was slow.

The situation with Bakanov is even more complicated. Talks about his possible dismissal also began at the beginning of last month. At the end of June, Politico reported this with reference to four officials close to Zelensky and one Western diplomat who advised the authorities on SSU reform. According to Politico, the Office of the President was not satisfied with Bakanovʼs management skills. In addition, OP did not approve the actions of key SSU officials at the beginning of the large-scale invasion. Politico cited the example of the former head of the Kherson SSU department, General Serhiy Kryvoruchko, who, according to the Ukrainian authorities, ordered officers to evacuate from the city during the Russian assault, contrary to Zelenskyʼs order. Also, his assistant, Colonel Igor Sadokhin, who, according to the Ukrainian authorities, gave the Russians the location of minefields and guided their aircraft. And the former head of internal security of the SSU Andriy Naumov, who left Ukraine a few hours before the large-scale invasion started. Later he was detained in Serbia. Zelensky called Naumov and Kryvoruchko traitors and stripped them of their ranks. At the end of June, Zelensky commented on the possible dismissal of Bakanov: "First of all, if I wanted to dismiss him, I would have already did this, and secondly, we are conducting an inspection of all law enforcement agencies now. Specifically because of the fact that on February 24 there was a full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation on our land," he said, adding that some representatives of law enforcement agencies "went somewhere instead of being in their place" after the beginning of the attack.

Naumov was close to Ivan Bakanov. On the eve of Bakanovʼs dismissal, the State Bureau of Investigation, together with the SSU, detained the former head of the Crimean SSU branch, Oleg Kulinich, who, according to law enforcement officers, also cooperated with the Russians and disclosed information to them. ZN.ua, citing sources, reported that Kulinich was considered an "officer on special assignments" and enjoyed Bakanovʼs trust. All this, according to Babelʼs sources, was the impetus for the removal of the head of the SSU.

Acting Prosecutor General — Venediktovaʼs deputy Oleksiy Symonenko

Simonenko is almost 45 years old. He was born in Chuguyiv

With the beginning of a full-scale invasion, the Russians occupied this city. Already at the beginning of March, Ukrainian troops liberated it, but since then it has been under constant fire from the Russians.

, Kharkiv oblast.

Symonenko graduated from the Yaroslav the Wise National Law Academy with a degree in law in 1998. At the same time, he got a job at the Kyiv Prosecutorʼs office. At first, he worked in the district prosecutorʼs office of Vatutinsky district (now Desnyansky), and then in Obolonsky district, where he rose to the position of senior investigator of the prosecutorʼs office.

In 2006, Symonenko moved to work at the Prosecutorʼs Office of Kyiv Oblast. He served there for four years and became the head of the department of supervision of the investigation of criminal cases by investigators of the Prosecutorʼs Office of Kyiv Oblast.

In 2010, the presidential elections were held, in which Viktor Yanukovych

The ex-president, who in 2010 signed an agreement with Vladimir Putin on the extension of the stay of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea. In addition, he made a number of anti-Ukrainian decisions, including refusing European integration, which caused protests, later called Euromaidan. After the victory of the Revolution of Dignity, Yanukovych fled to Russia, where he still promotes Russian narratives.

won. In the first months of his presidency, he changed heads in various government bodies — in May 2010, Valery Khoroshkovskyi became the head of the SSU. In the same month, Symonenko also joined the SSU. Already in 2011, at the request of Khoroshkovskyi, Symonenko received the title of "honored lawyer of Ukraine". The decree was signed by Yanukovych. In addition, Khoroshkovskyi prematurely gave Symonenko a military rank and awarded him three medals. It is not known exactly what positions Symonenko worked in. But he was definitely the first deputy head of the main investigative department of the SSU. He resigned from the service in March 2019.

In January 2020, Symonenko tried to get into the State Bureau of Investigation. He submitted documents for participation in the competition for the position of deputy director when Iryna Venediktova was temporarily acting as the director of the SBI. However, Symonenkoʼs didnʼt pass the competition. Within a few months, in March 2020, after the appointment of Venediktova as Prosecutor General, Symonenko became her deputy. He oversaw the investigation into the murder of journalist Pavlo Sheremet

In Kyiv, on July 20, 2016, a car carrying journalist Pavlo Sheremet exploded in the city center. He died on the spot. The case was investigated by the National Police. In December 2019, the police detained the singer and Special Operations Service press service employee Andriy Antonenko, doctor Yulia Kuzmenko and military officer Yana Dugar. They were accused of murder. There are many discrepancies in the case file, and the entire investigation is based on a walk-through examination, to which the defense has many questions. Before the full-scale war, the case was considered in court.

, as well as the investigation into the case of the killing of the activist Kateryna Handzyuk. In December 2021, he signed the indictment against former President Petro Poroshenko in the so-called coal case (read more about it here and here, in Ukrainian). Poroshenko is charged with treason and facilitating the activities of terrorist organizations.

The case of the murder of Pavlo Sheremet was overseen by Symonenko.

«Babel'»

But the biggest resonance was caused by the fact that it was Symonenko who broke the case against the deputy head of the Office of the President Oleg Tatarov (you can read about it in detail here, in Ukrainian). In short, instead of either closing the proceedings or taking it to court, Symonenko began to appeal to the courts — this contradicted the procedural law. The trials lasted six months. As a result, the investigators had no right to further investigate the proceedings, as the time limits set for this had expired.

In September 2021, journalist Mykhailo Tkach published a story about Oleg Tatarovʼs birthday. Oleksiy Symonenko was among the guests. According to Tkach, on the holiday, Symonenko stayed until three in the morning.

Symonenko has a plot of land with an area of 2,500 square meters in Kyiv oblast. The rest of the property belongs to his wife Olena. This is an apartment in Kyiv, a residential building of 640 square meters, two plots of land in Kozyn village

A prestigious village bordering Kyiv.

, as well as several plots of land in Novi Bezradychi village near Kyiv, and an apartment in Kyiv that she owns jointly with other people. The wife is the only one in the family who owns a car — a 2016 Mercedes S-Class Coupe 400. Olena has been working in the restaurant business since 2019 — she owns the Crassula B company.

On February 21, 2021, the publication Bihus.Info reported that Symonenkoʼs wife is a co-owner of two plots of land together with the son of former Party of Regions

A pro-Russian party, until 2014 led by the ousted president Viktor Yanukovych. In 2010-2014 — the most influential political party.

representative Serhiy Kanaki. He is associated with the criminal world — the group of criminal authority Vyacheslav Peresetskyi

The group was active in Kyiv in the 80s and 90s of the last century, at first mainly engaged in racketeering and theft, but then moved to entrepreneurial activities.

, nicknamed "The Fascist".

Vasyl Malyuk is the first deputy head of the SSU

Malyuk is 39 years old, he comes from the Korostyshiv town, Zhytomyr oblast. He graduated from the National Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine, majoring in law. Since 2001, Malyuk served in the regional departments of the Security Service of Ukraine, holding positions from operations officer to deputy head of the department, later head of the department for combating corruption and organized crime.

In January 2020, Malyuk was transferred to the Central Directorate of the SSU as the first deputy head of the Main Directorate for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime of the SSU. In March 2020, Zelensky appointed Malyuk as the first deputy head of the SSU and head of this department. Malyuk was appointed instead of Dmytro Neskoromnyi

Neskoromnyi was the first deputy head of the SSU — the head of the Main Directorate for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime from November 8, 2019 to March 13, 2020. In 2021, Neskoromnyi allegedly ordered SSU colonel Yury Rasyuk to organize an attack on Andriy Naumov, head of the Main Department of Internal Security of the SSU. Details about it are here and here, in Ukrainian.

[more about who Neskoromnyi is and the scandal can be found here].

On July 26, 2021, Zelensky dismissed Malyuk and three more SSU officials

In addition to Malyuk, the following were dismissed from their positions at that time:
— Oleksiy Korniychuk, head of the department of counterintelligence protection of the stateʼs interests in the field of information security;
— Head of the SSU Office in Chernivtsi Oblast Vitaliy Monastyretskyi;
— First Deputy Head of the SSU and Acting Head of the Anti-Terrorist Center at the SSU Ruslan Baranetskyi.

from their positions. At the time, the Presidentʼs Office cited the need to reform the SSU and the fight against smuggling as the reason or that. "It is fundamental for the president to significantly intensify the work of the SSU in order to finally put an end to all smuggling schemes. Unfortunately, we havenʼt seen enough work of the Service in this direction lately," explained the adviser to the head of the Office of the President Mykhailo Podolyak at the time.

At the beginning of September 2021, Ukrainian Pravda wrote that Malyuk was among the guests at the birthday celebration of the Deputy Head of the Presidentʼs Office Oleg Tatarov. Top officials of various law enforcement agencies came to the party, Tatarov said at the time that he did not see a conflict of interest in this. Babelʼs sources in the SSU and the parliament call Malyuk a person close to Tatarov.

On February 16, 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers appointed Malyuk as a deputy to the Minister of Internal Affairs Denys Monastyrskyi

Monastyrskyi was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs to replace the dismissed Arsen Avakov on July 16, 2021. Before that, he was a parliamentarian from the Servant of the People faction and headed the parliamentary committee on law enforcement.

. He took over the position of Oleksandr Gogilashvili

Gogilashvili was appointed Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs in September 2019. He was responsible for the fight against drugs and the rehabilitation of drug addicts. At the end of 2021, he got into several scandals. First, a video of Gogilashvili being rude and promising trouble to the police at a checkpoint in Donetsk oblast got viral online. Later, another similar video appeared — on it, the deputy minister also scolds the policemen with swear words. Subsequently, Gogilashvili was dismissed from his post "at his own request".

, who was fired the day before after two scandalous videos where he talks obscenely with police officers. But Malyuk worked at the Ministry of Internal Affairs for less than a month. Already on March 3, Zelensky again appointed him as the deputy head of the SSU, and on March 25 he also assigned him the rank of brigadier general. In Malyukʼs official biography, it is noted that he participates in the arrest of members of organized criminal groups. On July 16, the SSU together with the State Bureau of Investigations detained Oleg Kulinich, the former head of the SSU administration in Crimea. According to some media reports, Malyuk was allegedly present at the detention.

In April 2021, Malyuk showed his possessions declaration, which he did not want to open publicly the previous year. In it, Malyuk indicated a residential building with an area of 228 square meters with land plots in Korostyshiv town, Zhytomyr oblast, and land in Korostyshiv district. Also, an apartment in Kyiv with an area of almost 123 square meters, which his family used for free, and a residential building owned by the SSU. Malukʼs family also owns a 2004 Lexus LX470 and a 2014 Nissan Rogue. In 2020, the family received an income of 2.2 million hryvnias and kept $90,000 in cash.