Ilya Vytiuk, head of cybersecurity at the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), has been suspended pending consideration of the disclosures by the investigative agency Slidstvo.Info, Interfax Ukraine reported in a statement from the SBU press office on April 9. It was reported by citing.
According to a recent investigation by Slidstvo.Info, Mr. Vitiuk's wife started to earn big profits After her husband was appointed to the position, she bought an apartment in an upscale residential complex in Kiev for below market value.
The media reported that journalist Evheny Shulhat, who led the investigation, said: later targeted by non-commissioned officers As retaliation.
According to the Slidstvo.Info YouTube channel, employees of the enlistment office who approached Shulhat in a shopping center in Kiev last week and accused him of draft evasion were said to have been accompanied by SBU officials from the Vitiuk Ministry.
“During the investigation of the situation revealed by Slidstvo.Info journalists, the head of the SBU Vasyl Mariuk… suspended Mr. Vitiuk from official duties,” the SBU news agency said. Interfax-Ukraine.
Security officials announced that Vitiuk will be engaged in combat during his suspension and had already left for war earlier today.
“The SBU would like to pay tribute to the media and journalists for their joint intelligence efforts against Russian aggression,” the statement said.
The Attorney General's Office announced on April 8 that it had opened the Office of the Attorney General. criminal investigation In the wake of the Shulhat incident, there is a possibility of abuse of power and obstruction of journalists' professional activities by SBU officials and military enlisted officers.
The SBU said it was also working with the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to investigate the matter.
This is not the first time Ukrainian journalists have accused the SBU of pressure on press freedom. Another investigative agency Bihas informationrevealed in January that it had been subjected to months of illegal surveillance by the SBU department.
Bihus.Info proved that the SBU secretly recorded some staff members using drugs during a New Year party and released the footage to discredit the news organization.
In the wake of the scandalous revelations, the Sheriff's Office fired the officers involved in the espionage effort and vowed to defend freedom of the press.
Just a few days before the Bihus.Info scandal, two unidentified men approached the apartment of another prominent journalist. Yuri Nikolov. The men banged on Nikolov's door, demanding he open the door and speaking to him, calling him a “traitor” and accusing him of dodging military service.
Mr. Nikolov is known for his early investigations that uncovered corruption in public procurement in Ukraine.
Recent campaigns against journalists raise concerns about press freedom in Ukraine
Investigative journalists in Ukraine have faced two attacks in the last week alone, one for threatening home visits and the other for covert surveillance. The two incidents are the latest in a series of discrediting campaigns against independent media in Ukraine, often supported by anonymous media outlets.
