Close Bakanov associate targeted in murder plot

Andriy Naumov, a high-ranking official in the Security
Service of Ukraine (SBU), was the target of an assassination plot revealed to
the public on Jan. 22 that was allegedly organized by his coworkers. The
38-year-old Naumov is the head of the internal security administration that is
responsible for preventing corruption among agents. Naumov was identified as
the righthand man to SBU Head Ivan Bakanov by the censor.net news site. The
main suspect in the murder attempt, Yuriy Rasiuk, was arrested on Jan. 24. He
is a senior consultant in the SBU’s Anti-Terrorism Center. He is alleged to be
carrying the order of Dmytro Neskoromniy, a former SBU fist deputy head, as
reported by the censor.net news site. Yet Neskoromniy isn’t named a suspect in
official sources, according to the pravda.com.ua news site, citing court
documents it obtained from anonymous sources.

The motive in the murder plot – as revealed by Rasiuk
in a recording made by SBU officials about a month before his arrest – was to
remove the 38-year-old Naumov, who was preventing him and his associates from
gaining certain positions in the agency. They had begun tracking Rasiuk in the
summer after one of his hires to conduct the murder decided to turn on him and
become an informant. Rasiuk was first detained on Jan. 22 when he brought the
informant a payment of USD 4,000 in cash for the murder. Naumov submitted his
first complaint in June that he was being illegally monitored from within the
SBU. He said he was being targeted owing to his active position in organizing
work to expose corruption among the agents and those trying to undermine his
work.

Zenon Zawada: What’s
significant in this drama – if the facts are correct – is that certain SBU
cliques have no fear in organizing murder attempts even against those who have
close ties to the SBU head Bakanov, who is also close to President Zelensky. So
this is further evidence of an entrenched Deep State within Ukraine’s law
enforcement structures that is hostile to outsiders and newcomers. We believe
Bakanov has eluded any scandal and major conflicts during his tenure as SBU
head because he reached an agreement to cooperate with the leaders of these
groupings and not interfere with their order.

It’s not clear if Naumov didn’t give the Rasiuk
grouping the positions it wanted out of corruption concerns, or political
concerns. Naumov was alleged to be conducting financial machinations with elite
real estate in a video news investigation broadcast in October. Regardless of
Naumov’s motives, this case is evidence of ongoing corruption and criminality
in Ukraine’s law enforcements structures under the Zelensky administration,
which is in over its head. We don’t expect the situation to improve.