Valentyn Nalyvaichenko has held a press conference as the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) rather than its acting head. On March 10, 2009, President Viktor Yushchenko introduced him as the new head of the Security Service of Ukraine after a positive March 6 vote in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Nalyvaichenko has been performing the duties of the SBU head since Dec. 22, 2006, when the parliament dismissed the then head of the department Ihor Drizhchany.
Nalyvaichenko has once again said that the SBU’s high-priority tasks include the struggle against separatism, xenophobia, corruption, and contraband, as well as the defense of Ukraine’s territorial and state integrity. He added that all the organizations that are fueling international hostility will be removed from Ukraine’s territory, while citizens involved in their activities will be brought to court in accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine.
Interestingly enough, the SBU has kept its employees under cover in Ukraine’s higher educational establishments. “Today the SBU has withdrawn all its employees from the higher educational establishments of Ukraine,” said Nalyvaichenko, adding that this operation was carried out at order of the president of Ukraine. “The Minister of Education Ivan Vakarchuk is an absolutely Ukrainian minister, and he has enough power, so the SBU has nothing to do in our universities and institutes,” the head of the special service explained.
For Ukrainian sailors the important news was that the SBU intends to use the special Alfa unit in international anti-terrorism activities, specifically in fighting against piracy. “The SBU’s special unit known as Alfa will take part in combatting piracy. At the moment the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is completing its negotiations with the UN and the European Commission, and I confirm that our men will be securing safety as part of the anti-terrorism forces,” Nalyvaichenko said. The Alfa men will be provided with the newest weapons and equipment, while the funding will come from the UN.
Recalling how the Alfa men were working in the Naftohaz Company and the Cabinet of Ministers, one begins to wonder: isn’t the SBU being used in the political struggle? Nalyvaichenko said in this respect that the SBU remains beyond politics, and he personally does not take part in any political confrontations. “As the head [of the SBU], I promise only one thing: even if I work here for a mere day, I will work absolutely honestly. We will not invent things that do not exist,” he said. He also promised that the reform of the SBU, which was launched at the president’s request, will be completed by the end of 2009. One of its main objectives is to combat corruption inside the agency.
