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Politician says CIA chief went to Kiev to seek certain appointments at Ukraine’s agencies

According to Vladimir Rogov, Burns’s visit is related to the statement by the head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate, who accused top staff at the Security Service of Ukraine of assassinating the directorate’s employee Denis Kireyev

MELITOPOL, January 24. /TASS/. Vladimir Rogov, chairman of the We Are Together with Russia civil society group, on Tuesday told TASS that CIA Director William Burns traveled to Kiev at the end of last week to seek certain appointments at Ukrainian government agencies.

One of the goals was to make sure Artyom Sytnik gets the position of director at the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau, Rogov said. He said Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has already announced that a government reshuffle is on the way.

"The next few days will show whether he will give the Americans the positions they want. Burns came with concrete demands: Appoint Atyom Sytnik as director of the NACB, reshuffle staff at the Security Service of Ukraine, the Interior Ministry, and lots of other agencies where Americans should gain a stronger foothold," Rogov said.

According to the politician, Burns’s visit is related to the statement by Kirill Budanov, head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate, who accused top staff at the Security Service of Ukraine, also known as SBU, of assassinating the directorate’s employee Denis Kireyev.

"That the standoff between the intelligence directorate and the security service - to be more exact, between the intelligence directorate and Zelensky’s people - spilled over into the public domain is related precisely to that. Budanov is a person that’s fully integrated in the Anglo-Saxon military community, starting from his education and ending with how he handles the missions, and he’s one of the most efficient ones," Rogov went on to say.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on Tuesday dismissed from office Kirill Timoshenko, deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, while Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov submitted a resignation request amid a corruption scandal over food procurement for the military. Ukraine’s Deputy Prosecutor General Alexey Simonenko has also been let go today.

On January 22, the Ukrainian cabinet dismissed Deputy Community Development Minister Vasily Lozinsky, who is suspected of accepting a $400,000 bribe for helping with an equipment purchase contract that charged excessively high prices. Another Ukrainian Deputy Community Development Minister, Ivan Lukerya, on Tuesday said he was resigning.

Reports emerged on March 5, 2022 that SBU agents shot and killed Denis Kireyev, during an operation to detain him. Kireyev, 45, was participating in the peace talks between Ukraine and Russia at the time. Some reports said he was allegedly suspected of treason, but a few days later, he was given a burial ceremony of a hero and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky bestowed him with a posthumous award.

Budanov said on January 22 that Kireyev had been murdered in an SBU vehicle and his body had then been discarded outside. He said Kireyev was an intelligence agent, didn’t spy on Ukraine, and they had known each other since 2009.