Ukraine security service carries out investigations to fight "internal enemy"

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has said that it is carrying out investigations aimed at fighting the "internal enemy".

"On this day, dozens of searches are being carried out in different regions of Ukraine, as well as the serving of notices of suspicion in criminal cases," the SBU said on Telegram on February 1.

The cases were opened to investigate "traitors of Ukraine and agents of Russian security services, members of organised crime syndicates, and corrupt officials who are undermining the economy of the country and the stable operation of the defence industry", the SBU quoted its acting head, Oleksiy Malyuk.

"We are executing the mission assigned by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and we are delivering a simultaneous blow to the internal enemy. A vivid example of that is the mass searches, serving of notices of suspicion and detentions of criminals of various ranks. This is the first stage of the comprehensive and systemic work the SBU has been carrying out. And we are not stopping! Every criminal bold enough to harm Ukraine in wartime must clearly realise that we will put him in handcuffs," Malyuk added.

On February 1, the SBU and the Bureau of Economic Security searched the house of influential businessman Ihor Kolomoyskyy in Dnipro, the premises of former Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, and detained an organised crime group in Kyiv.

Since February 24, 2022, Ukraine’s SBU security service has opened over 1,500 criminal cases on treason and espionage charges, with one-third of them already referred to the courts. At the same time, the number of explicit Russian agents and spies, involved in intelligence gathering and sabotage, is around 600 individuals, according to the security service, according to The New Voice of Ukraine.