Ukraine parliament approves new SBU head

Ukraine’s parliament approved on July 2 the president’s nomination of Vasyl Hrytsak, 48, as head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). He served as acting head after his predecessor, Valentyn Nalyvaychenko, was dismissed on June 18. Before that, he was the director of the SBU’s Anti-Terrorist Center starting July 2014 and reportedly served as the head of Petro Poroshenko’s personal security between 2010 and 2014, before he became president.

In his 2014 tax declaration, Hrytsak indicated his annual income was $13,650. He reportedly has no savings or financial securities. He also declared six foreign-made vehicles between himself and his wife, a businesswoman, which drew suspicion from the Self-Reliance parliamentary faction, which declined to support his candidacy.

“We don’t understand how a person who worked his whole life in the SBU could have had such a number of luxury vehicles,” said deputy faction head Yegor Sobolyev. “We believe that we should search for the new SBU head – as well as the directors of all law enforcement bodies – among those with a crystal-clear reputation, who not only have strength, not only have the support of the president, which is undoubtedly necessary, but also have principles and won’t ever allow the SBU to be used for corruption or political games.”

Zenon Zawada: Hrytsak built his entire career in the SBU, which would normally be impressive. But in Ukraine, that can be a drawback as his approach to work has been formed by corrupt post-Soviet norms. That’s apparent from his own tax declarations, as well as those of his wife. What’s critical in this case is the report – yet to be confirmed publicly by Hrytsak or the president – that he served as the head of Poroshenko’s personal security for four years. The advantage in that is he avoided serving the Yanukovych administration, though he might have done so for pragmatic reasons, rather than based on principle.

On the other hand, it’s apparent that Poroshenko is continuing to build his hierarchy, or his chain of command, based on loyalty, which he began doing immediately upon becoming president. Yet what Western integration requires is establishing norms based on rule of law and equality before the law, in which positions are earned by the most experienced and qualified candidates, not the most personally loyal.

We understand Ukraine has a long way to go to adopt Western institutions and norms. And we understand the president is in a difficult position and needs personnel that he can trust personally. Yet it’s these personnel decisions based on personal loyalties that are inhibiting his ability to mobilize the government and the public towards pursuing the reforms that Ukrainians are capable of implementing. The fight against corruption has also been hindered by personal loyalties. Moreover, these reforms are needed to keep the functioning of the state viable.

In the absence of a war with Russia, Poroshenko could get away with business as usual. But winning the war requires one of two things: a full-scale mobilization, which the political establishment clearly opposes, or a complete overhaul of the Ukrainian state to make it economically attractive and competitive. Poroshenko isn’t pursuing either path, in our view, which means he faces a political crisis in a year’s time.