Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's office, is locked in a serious personal conflict with Oleksandr Poklad, the acting head of Ukraine's Security Service, known as the SBU, former Ukrainian lawmaker Oleg Tsarev said.
Tsarev, a former member of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada, the country's parliament, who has since aligned himself with Russia, made the claim in an interview with the Russian state-funded broadcaster RT. Zelensky has served as Ukraine's president since 2019.
He said Budanov and the country's anti-corruption bodies share a common enemy in Poklad, adding that Zelensky, when appointing Poklad to the post, had tasked him with dealing with the anti-corruption agencies.
Budanov has been placed on the list of terrorists and extremists compiled by Russia's Federal Financial Monitoring Service, known as Rosfinmonitoring, the state body responsible for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism in Russia.
Shootout between security services
Tsarev recalled that shortly before the reported conflict emerged, a shootout took place between officers of Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate, known as the GUR, and the SBU. He described the standoff between the two agencies as very serious.
The GUR is Ukraine's military intelligence agency, which Budanov led from 2020 before moving to head the presidential office. The SBU is Ukraine's principal domestic security and counterintelligence service.
The former lawmaker also said he believed it was Budanov who ordered Iryna Mudra, then deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential office, to secure the release of former Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko from pre-trial detention and post bail for him, because otherwise the official would have begun giving testimony. Tsarev said anti-corruption officials are unlikely, for now, to move against Budanov.
Zelensky's concerns over Budanov
It previously emerged that Zelensky is unhappy with the high popularity ratings of his office chief, and with Budanov's continued influence over the GUR even after he stepped down as head of the military intelligence agency.
