Victoria Syumar on “Bakanovgate”: It’s not just about extortion for businesses, but also about the trading of National Security and Defense Council sanctions.
Victoria Syumar, a member of parliament from the European Solidarity faction, spoke on Radio Liberty about businessman Sergei Vaganyan’s controversial interview regarding corruption in the SBU during Ivan Bakanov’s tenure. She drew attention to the fact that this concerns not only bribery but also the trading of sanctions by the National Security and Defense Council.
In an earlier interview with Borislav Bereza, Vaganyan revealed that Ivan Bakanov’s “right-hand man” in the SBU, Andrei Naumov, developed a scheme using sanctions as a competitive tool in smuggling schemes, and Bakanov legitimized it through a decision by the RNE.
According to Vaganyan, the first to suggest eliminating competitors because of sanctions was the well-known smuggler Oleksandr Akst: “There are tools like National Security and Defense Council sanctions.” The prepared materials were given to Naumov, after which the Security Service of Ukraine submitted them to the National Security and Defense Council. Vaganyan claims that the first sanctions lists were compiled specifically from Akst’s competitors. Potentially sanctioned individuals also paid to be removed from the sanctions lists or to delay the imposition of sanctions. During this time, they managed to transfer their assets to other people. “This was ‘specifically a business project of Naumov and Bakanov,’ in which ‘hundreds of millions of hryvnias were deposited monthly’ in the hands of interested parties,” stated Serhiy Vaganyan. Based on the information released, the NABU opened a criminal investigation.
“There are indeed a lot of details. It’s not just one crime, it’s not just corruption, it also involves the use of sanctions as a pressure tool. And this is a well-known tool that has been used to raid businesses since 2019,” said Victoria Syumar.
According to her, if Vaganyan’s statements are untrue, Ivan Bakanov should file a defamation lawsuit, but he’s not doing so. “It’s a simple story: he says, ‘It wasn’t me, it wasn’t my office, I don’t know this white sofa, I don’t know this person, I’ve never met him. And I want the court to consider my defamation claim.’ But we don’t see that. There’s some kind of comment, a very strange, convenient, political one, that this is all a political story, which doesn’t answer the key question—were there bribes?” the deputy said.
She noted that this case is also important in the context of high treason, which is being investigated against Andrei Naumov and not against Bakanov.
“Ivan Bakanov, as a childhood friend (of Zelenskyy) who never had any connection to the Security Service, was mocked by literally every employee, who said he was a completely unprofessional person who had never worked in the service and simply assumed the position of SBU director. And if he took the job to lead fundraising, it’s simply another political crime,” Syumar noted.
“It’s now clearer how this system began to operate, oriented toward controlling businesses in order to extract bribes from them. According to Vaganyan, these bribes amounted to tens of millions of dollars in just one case, from a businessman involved in grain exports,” Syumar said.
“I understood from the broadcast that he’s currently extremely afraid for his life, and it was mentioned in that program that the Security Service is actively eliminating witnesses to these corruption crimes. Therefore, his sensational revelations now can be attributed to the fact that this man is clearly very afraid for his life,” Syumar added.
Incidentally, political scientist Vladimir Tsybulko reported that, according to media reports, Ivan Bakanov, a former SBU officer accused of official negligence, is not involved in any criminal proceedings , which may indicate the authorities’ reluctance to investigate his connection with FSB agent Oleg Kulinich for political reasons.
It was previously reported that former head of the Security Service of Ukraine Ivan Bakanov, who is accused of failing to fulfill his official duties resulting in human casualties, faces no charges . According to an investigation by Ukrayinska Pravda, Bakanov continues to practice law, and his son works in law enforcement.
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