The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has commented on the dismissal of Roman Semenchenko, head of the Department for the Protection of National Statehood (DPNS).
It said that the service is "constantly changing in the context of a full-scale war, optimising itself as an effective and combatant counterintelligence agency capable of protecting the state from the full range of possible challenges". The SBU is aware that it is "protecting a democratic Ukraine, in which strengthening national statehood is one of the key priorities, which should ensure, among other things, the unimpeded work of the media and guarantee them a sufficient level of security".
"With this goal in mind, the DPNS will be strengthened and approaches to its work will be optimised," the SBU said.
A new head of the department is expected to be nominated in the near future.
Yesterday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree to dismiss Semenchenko. In 2019, Zelenskyy appointed Semenchenko as the presidential commissioner for oversight of the SBU. "Back in 2019, Slidstvo Info reported that Semenchenko owned two apartments (including a 500-square-metre apartment), nine plots of land, and three SUVs.
In October 2022, Semenchenko became the head of the department at the SBU.
The exact reason for Semenchenko's dismissal is unknown; the remark about "unimpeded media work" is the only detail that has been publicly announced so far. Recently, there have been several scandals involving pressure on journalists: when unidentified people came to the home of investigative journalist Yuriy Nikolov and when unidentified people wiretapped and secretly filmed journalists of the Bihus.info project.
The SBU is investigating the wiretapping of the team.