(IntegrityPress.org) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ordered a top-to-bottom purge of his Department of State Protection following the arrest of members of its staff on suspicion of plots to assassinate him.
Zelenskyy has reportedly been the subject of a number of assassination plots since the Russian invasion of his country began in February 2022. The latest attempt to hit headlines involved two members of the Department of State Protection being accused of cooperating with Russian agents in a plot to murder Zelenskyy and other high-ranking Ukrainian officials.
The State Security Service (SBU) announced in May that it had arrested two guard service colonels collaborating with Moscow. The guard service colonels make up part of the team dedicated to guarding Zelenskyy and other high-level authorities. Zelenskyy has since announced a rigorous clear-out of the department in order to dislodge anybody else who may be harboring a desire to harm him or other officials. Zelenskyy chose Colonel Oleskiy Morosov to act as new head of the department and announced on Telegram that Morosov was to be tasked with ensuring that only those loyal to the country be hired into the department.
Zelenskyy has taken steps to exert greater control over his embattled country in recent months. Famously, he cancelled presidential elections earlier this year before his term could come to an end in May. In February, he dismissed General Valery Zaluzhny from position of Commander in Chief. Zaluzhny was known as the president’s main political rival.
More recently, several investigations have been opened into the spending of international aid designated for defensive measures in besieged locations near the border with Russia. Whistleblowers reported funds being diverted away from the front line, with companies being allegedly created shortly before winning vital building contracts, only to disappear again with the money.
Several government departments and individuals are now under investigation for possible fraud and corruption. The investigations into the alleged misuse of international aid comes in the latest of a long line of problems with corruption in the former Soviet republic. According to the Transparency Index, Ukraine has had some success in battling corruption over the years, but still ranks poorly at 104 out of 180 countries.
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