Christopher Miller Profile picture
Aug 17, 2019 11 tweets 8 min read Read on X
Ukraine's scandal-prone state security service, the SBU, has earned a reputation as one of the country's most corrupt institutions and proven thus far to be immune to reform. Is Ukraine’s newly elected President Zelenskiy up to the task? My story: rferl.org/a/ukraine-zele… v @RFERL
@RFERL How successful Zelenskiy is in cleaning up the SBU will be a litmus test of his office's resolve to bring Ukraine more into line with Western democracies. On the other hand, failure to reform it could hobble wider efforts to curb corruption & econ crime. rferl.org/a/ukraine-zele…
"Now there's a real opportunity to reform [Ukraine's security service]," says Ambo William Taylor, current charge d'affaires @USEmbassyKyiv. Insight also from @MarkGaleotti @AndyHunder @ANTAC_ua's Tania Shevchuk @JohnEdHerbst @PA3yMKOB's Oleksiy Melnyk rferl.org/a/ukraine-zele…
@USEmbassyKyiv @MarkGaleotti @AndyHunder @ANTAC_ua @JohnEdHerbst @PA3yMKOB You'll remember Ukraine's security service from the time last year when it faked the murder of Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko to expose what it claimed was a team of hitmen allegedly hired by Moscow to destabilize Ukraine. It didn't go over so well. rferl.org/a/lavrov-rejec…
With 30,000+ employees, the SBU is more than seven times the size of the U.K.'s MI5, and more than four times the size of Israel's Mossad. Besides performing the intel roles, the SBU's also responsible for combating economic crimes and corruption. That's become a big problem.
Ihor Smeshko, SBU head from 2003-2005, told me the agency is "the most powerful institution in the country." Over the years, abuse of its power — including accusations of blackmail, corruption, arms trafficking, secret jails, torture, FSB links — has cast a shadow over the SBU.
So why wasn't it been reformed? "Ukraine has used the war as an excuse to not reform the SBU," said @MarkGaleotti. Critics also said ex-president @poroshenko lacked the political will to reform the agency b/c he didn't want to relinquish control of it as he fought for reelection
@MarkGaleotti @poroshenko SBU agents have for years abused their sweeping powers to enrich themselves. Directorate K, its economic crimes unit formed in the turbulent privatization era of the 1990s, is notorious for corruption and abusing its power. As one expert put it, "they can do whatever they want."
.@AndyHunder of @ChamberUkraine, says Directorate K's activities have scared away potential investors. He's met with Zelenskiy's team to encourage them to reform the SBU, warn them that "maski shows" (raids by armed, masked agents) would hobble Ukraine's ability to attract biz.
@MarkGaleotti @poroshenko This thread could go on... but I'll leave you instead with a tease of what else is in the piece & link: more on the SBU's corrupt nature, including lavish lifestyles of its agents; the SBU's infiltration by Russian spies; recommendations for reforming it. rferl.org/a/ukraine-zele…
@MarkGaleotti @poroshenko Oh, and this good quote:

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More from @ChristopherJM

Dec 10
New poll by Kyiv-based @NEC_Ukraine. Ukrainians surveyed in Nov. In sum: 'Mix of disappointment & optimism. More faith in ourselves than partners. Trust in Western leaders has fallen. Most Ukrainians believe partners not doing enough to ensure victory.' neweurope.org.ua/en/analytics/z…
Some bits that stand out: 64.1% of Ukrainians believe negotiations with Russia not worthwhile unless Ukraine receives real security guarantees from West, because "Russia will start the war again after a short pause." Those 30–39 years old are most in favor of negotiations (~40%).
Ukrainians are almost equally likely to consider the development of nuclear weapons by the state (31.3%) and gradual accession to NATO (29.3%) to be the best guarantees of Ukraine’s security. Only 6.4% believe in effectiveness of European troops on the territory of Ukraine.
Read 10 tweets
Dec 4
New and terrifying: Kherson’s civilians have been the target of an experiment without precedent in modern European warfare: a concerted Russian campaign to empty a city by stalking its residents with drones.
w/ @samjoiner @inari_ta @FT + @Cen4infoRes
on.ft.com/4fTNzAL
“They are hunting us,” Oleksandr Prokudin, head of Kherson region military admin, told me when I visited last week. Since mid-July Kherson residents suffered 9,500+ attacks with small drones, killing at least 37 people and injuring hundreds more. ft.com/content/31b630…Image
Russia has deployed some of its best drone units across the Dnipro river, which bisects Kherson. The Russians are launching advanced drone models, refining combat techniques and training new operators – and their using civilians as "target practice." ft.com/content/31b630…
Read 7 tweets
Jul 15
Ukraine today: A fresh poll shows Ukrainians’ interest in negotiations; and Zelensky tells Ukrainian reporters he’s “not afraid” of Trump 2.0, and signals more govt shakeups likely ahead. (Rumors of PM Shmyhal’s departure, etc. have swirled for months.) 🧵
A new poll by @RazumkovC for @zn_ua found that 44% of Ukrainians believe it’s time for negotiations between Ukraine and Russia (35% say not yet; 21% undecided). That's a big shift compared to last year, when 64% of Ukrainians opposed talks with Moscow.
zn.ua/ukr/UKRAINE/44…
@RazumkovC @zn_ua But vast majority of Ukrainians – 83% – disagree with Putin's conditions, which would include the complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from beyond the administrative borders of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia regions just to start talks. zn.ua/ukr/UKRAINE/44…
Read 9 tweets
Jun 12
NEW: Our @FT team identified and located four Ukrainian children who were abducted and taken to Russia and are now advertised as up for adoption on a Russian government-linked adoption website, including one child under a false Russian identity. on.ft.com/3KLKm85
.@FT confirmed the children’s IDs with help of Ukrainian Child Rights Protection Centre. We are awaiting further confirmation on two more children located by the FT who we strongly believe are Ukrainian. The children’s guardians and Ukraine’s authorities had previously been unaware of their whereabouts.
The four Ukrainian children were abducted from state care homes and separated from their guardians and relatives in towns across the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine that fell under the control of Russia’s invading army in 2022. on.ft.com/3KLKm85
Read 6 tweets
May 30
NEW: US is close to signing new security pact with Ukraine in signal of support to assuage Kyiv after “tense” relations that some officials say have hit their lowest ebb since Russia’s full-scale invasion. Story w/ @JamesPoliti @HenryJFoy. More in 🧵below.
ft.com/content/966970…
Zelensky’s frustration with Biden was laid bare when the Ukrainian prez rebuked his US counterpart in blunt terms, saying Biden’s plan to attend a Democratic fundraiser rather than Ukraine’s peace summit on June 15-16 was “not a strong decision”. ft.com/content/966970…
One Zelensky-appointed senior government official who spoke to the @FT about the US-Ukraine relationship said: “We are farther apart than ever since the war started. It is very, very tense.” ft.com/content/966970…
Read 6 tweets
Apr 16
Russia’s occupying forces in Bakhmut just published on one of their Telegram channels new video footage and photos of the eastern Ukrainian city almost a year after it was destroyed and captured. The photos are stomach-churning and I admit they fill me with rage. I’ll post them below beside my own photos from when I lived in Bakhmut in 2010-2012, when it was a vibrant, peaceful city that 80,000 called home.

These images show the central square fountain and city hall — or where city hall stood before it was blown up. The first two were taken under Russian occupation. The other two are mine from 14 years ago.Image
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This was the Bakhmut Ferris wheel in the city’s upper central park. It usually operated on holidays and was a meeting place for families. Left: under Russian occupation this month. Right: my photo from 2011.
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This is one of the locally famous historic central Bakhmut buildings. My second apartment in the city was in the adjacent building on the left and just out of view. Catty corner was the city hall building and across the road was the central park and fountain from the first tweet above.
Left: today under Russian occupation. Other three photos are mine: from December 2022; summer 2010; and winter 2011.Image
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Read 7 tweets

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