Ukraine Appoints New Spy Chief; Russia Resorts to Gas Supply Threat Again

The appointment comes one day after the predecessor was penalised by Zelenskyy for colluding with Russia.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@ajit4g1)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday, 18 July, appointed Vasyl Maliuk, a former first deputy head of the country's security services, as acting head of domestic security.

The appointment comes one day after Ivan Bakanov and Iryna Venediktov, Ukraine's head of the Security Service and Prosecutor General respectively, were penalised by Zelenskyy for colluding with Russia. While initial reports said that they were fired, later reports stated that Bakanov had been "temporarily removed from fulfilling his duties" and Venediktov had been suspended.

The parliament on Tuesday supported a request from the president to fire the prosecutor general and security chief.

Ukraine has had to deal with turncoats within the political administration and the military.

"In particular, more than 60 employees of the prosecutor’s office and the SBU [state security service] have remained in the occupied territory and work against our state," Zelenskyy had said on Sunday in his nightly video address to the nation.

Meanwhile, within the energy sector, Gazprom, the Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation, has told its customers in Europe that it cannot guarantee the supply of gas because of "extraordinary" circumstances.

"Depending on what ‘extraordinary’ circumstances [Gazprom] have in mind in order to declare the force majeure, and whether these issues are technical or more political, it could mean the next step in escalation between Russia and Europe-Germany," Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at the bank ABN Amro, was quoted as saying by The Guardian.