A retired major general of the Ukrainian secret service SBU was prevented from leaving the country illegally, officials said. At a border crossing into Hungary yesterday, the general presented false documents stating that he was not recruited.
The announcement was made by the State Investigation Department of Ukraine in Kiev. As a military rank, the man had given a rank of enlisted, ie soldier. The major general was arrested, he said.
In an earlier video message, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had removed two SBU brigadier generals from his military ranks. He did not comment on what the top intelligence officials were guilty of. One of them was more recently the head of the SBU in the Cherson region of southern Ukraine, which is occupied by Russian troops.
SBU successor to KGB
“I don’t have time to deal with traitors,” Zelenskyy said. He expressly commended the efforts of other SBU officials in the war unleashed by Russia.
The SBU is the successor to the former Soviet KGB secret service in Ukraine. The SBU maintained close contacts with Moscow until 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula and fueled the war in eastern Ukraine. Therefore, there have always been doubts about the loyalty of the service to the Ukrainian government.