Parliament appoints Vasyl Maliuk as head of Security Service

The Ukrainian parliament appointed Vasyl Maliuk as the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, on Feb. 7, according to lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak.

Maliuk has been the acting head of the SBU since July 2022, when Zelensky dismissed the previous SBU head, Ivan Bakanov, over endemic treason at the security service.

According to Zhelezniak, 324 lawmakers voted in favor of Maliuk's appointment. Most of the votes, 226, came from lawmakers of President Volodymyr Zelensky's ruling Servant of the People faction.

Earlier on Feb. 6, Zelensky sent an official request to Ukraine’s parliament to appoint Maliuk as the head of the SBU.

Maliuk is close to Zelensky's notorious deputy chief of staff Oleh Tatarov, anti-corruption activists say. In 2021, Maliuk attended a birthday party held by Tatarov, according to an investigation by the Ukrainska Pravda news outlet.

Tatarov was charged with bribery in 2020. Since then, his case has been destroyed by law enforcers, while Tatarov is believed to wield significant influence over most law enforcement bodies.

Maliuk's appointment comes after an anti-corruption crackdown on Feb. 1, when law enforcers raided powerful oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, scandalous former Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, and top tax and customs officials.

The large-scale operation came as the Ukrainian government sought to show that it is tackling corruption as the West provides unprecedented amounts of aid to Kyiv.