'Russia is celebrating': Ukrainian MP condemns SBU chief's dismissal despite multi-million bounty

Ukrainian lawmaker Iryna Friz, member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, stated this on Espreso TV.

"Today they assembled all the Servants of the People members who control the majority in the National Security Committee. Davyd Arakhamia, the faction leader, showed up and added something new to the agenda that wasn't supposed to be there—a vote to reconsider firing Vasyl Maliuk. Using only their own votes, the Servants of the People forced the committee to reverse its previous decision. In my view, they pressured their own members to overturn what they had already decided about dismissing the SBU Chief," Iryna Friz said.

She added that this is another example of how the National Security Committee is being undermined during wartime.

"Parliament then voted that the SBU chief should at least be allowed to speak before being fired. But with support from Opposition Platform-For Life, the divided former majority, and Batkivshchyna party, they passed what I believe is a deeply unethical decision. The president's removal of Maliuk was unconstitutional. Not giving a Hero of Ukraine a chance to speak—someone who led the most successful operations—is unethical from everyone who voted for this. So with help from Opposition Platform-For Life, what's left of the old majority, and Batkivshchyna, they fired a Hero of Ukraine, an SBU chief that Russia put a multi-million-dollar bounty on his head. I'm sure Russia is celebrating today," the lawmaker concluded.

• On January 13, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence supported President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's proposal to dismiss Vasyl Maliuk from his position as head of the SBU. The Verkhovna Rada supported the dismissal of Vasyl Maliuk from the position of Chief of the Security Service of Ukraine. 235 lawmakers voted for the corresponding decision.