Zelenskyi punishes ‘traitors’ detained in Kiev who escape Major General
02/04/2022 12:59
Ukrainian President Selenskyj announces tough action against saboteurs. First, he revokes the titles of two brigade generals. Then a major general of the reserve of the Ukrainian secret service SBU is arrested because he wants to leave the country with false documents.
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, the general presented false documents on Friday, according to which 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 a video message Friday night, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had removed two SBU brigade generals from his military ranks. He expressly commended the efforts of other SBU officials in the war unleashed by Russia. Zelenskyy revoked the respective titles of the former head of the Main Directorate of Internal Security, Andriy Naumov, and the former head of the SBU for the Kherson region, Serhey Kryvoruchko.
“Now I don’t have time to take care of all the traitors. But gradually they will all be punished,” Zelenskyj said in the video message. He didn’t give further details. Naumov had already been sacked as head of the secret service last summer and allegedly fled abroad before the start of the war. According to the media, he is involved in smuggling and customs corruption.
SBU is the successor to the KGB
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.
Furthermore, according to pro-Russian separatists in the Luhansk region, the mayor of the eastern Ukrainian city of Rubishne has defected to them. Mayor Serhiy Khortyv called on Ukrainian troops to lay down their weapons, the separatist news agency Lug-Info reported.
In a video, Khortyv repeated Moscow’s thesis that Ukraine was committing genocide against its Russian-speaking population. It was unclear under what circumstances the video was recorded. Rubishne is the eighth largest city in the Luhansk region and had around 60,000 inhabitants before the war. The city has not been in separatist hands until now. Kiev politicians have threatened Khortyv with retaliation.
Zelenskyj warns against collaborating with separatists
When the Russian-fueled struggle of eastern Ukrainian separatists against the Kiev government began in 2014, many local politicians defected to them. In the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine since February 24, however, most local and regional administrations support Kiev. This could be one reason for the successful Ukrainian resistance so far.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy warned people in the south of the Russian-controlled country not to accept positions in the occupation regime. In his video speech Saturday night, he described these people as Gauleiters, like the Nazis. “My message to them is simple: responsibility for collaboration is inevitable,” Zelenskyy said in Kiev. According to Ukrainian sources, Russia is trying to establish pro-Moscow administrations in the occupied territories.
In Russian, Selenskyj addressed the parents of young people in Russia who were called up for military service on April 1. “Protect your children!” he said. Parents should do everything to protect their children from the army. The risk is high of being sent to war in Ukraine. “That’s guaranteed death for a lot of very young guys.” The Ukrainian army has recently liberated many occupied cities in the north, Selenskyj said. However, he warned the villagers who fled against returning to their homeland too quickly. More bomb attacks threatened there, and many houses were still mined.