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O. Turchynov: President Abuses SBU Powers
04 March 2009
Sources: FT, Kyiv Post, Bloomberg and
Euronews
Armed guards from Ukraine’s State Security Service (SBU) on Wednesday raided the headquarters of state natural gas company Naftogaz. Scuffles broke out as officers entered the building in Kyiv searching for original copies of a new gas contract between Russia and Ukraine.
An SBU official was quoted as saying that the raid was part of an investigation into the illegal transfer of natural gas ownership into the hands of the state company.
Armed guards from Ukraine’s State Security Service (SBU) on Wednesday raided the headquarters of state natural gas company Naftogaz. Scuffles broke out as officers entered the building in Kyiv searching for original copies of a new gas contract between Russia and Ukraine.
An SBU official was quoted as saying that the raid was part of an investigation into the illegal transfer of natural gas ownership into the hands of the state company.
First Deputy Prime Minister, Oleksandr Turchynov,
warned SBU agents not to abide by “criminal orders”
from their leadership that run contrary to state
interests. “The main aim of the security service’s
attack is to seize the original gas contracts with
Gazprom,” Turchynov said. “It may impede gas
payments because they are made using the original
contracts.”
“You have the right not to abide by criminal orders. You should not become weapons of criminals, which with the appointment of the president are managing the [state security] service or controlling it,” Mr Turchynov said at a briefing in Kyiv.
Serhiy Davydenko, head of Naftogaz’s legal department, said the security agents were seeking original contracts from the Jan. 19 deal with Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned gas giant. The agreement ended a two-week cutoff of Russian gas to Europe and removed RosUkrEnergo from future gas transactions between the two nations.
The armed SBU investigators left Naftogaz after a court order was issued. Davydenko said the dispute would not lead to renewed disruptions of Russian gas supplies to Ukraine and the rest of Europe.
“You have the right not to abide by criminal orders. You should not become weapons of criminals, which with the appointment of the president are managing the [state security] service or controlling it,” Mr Turchynov said at a briefing in Kyiv.
Serhiy Davydenko, head of Naftogaz’s legal department, said the security agents were seeking original contracts from the Jan. 19 deal with Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned gas giant. The agreement ended a two-week cutoff of Russian gas to Europe and removed RosUkrEnergo from future gas transactions between the two nations.
The armed SBU investigators left Naftogaz after a court order was issued. Davydenko said the dispute would not lead to renewed disruptions of Russian gas supplies to Ukraine and the rest of Europe.