Dear Ukrainians!

Dear SSU staff!

Usually, when SSU Head leaves the post, it’s customary to loudly report about professional accomplishments. I could also resort to such practice - there are many achievements.

However, from the very first day in the Service, I followed another principle - real results don’t need verbal assistance. Especially in a security service.

Because the result itself is a self-sufficient value that does not depend on any subjective assessments. Political intrigues and some prerequisites. Especially in such an extremely sensitive area as state security.

The SSU is not a political entity, and its Head is not a politician. We were doing work, not publicity. We were building most transparent relations with the public, which now knows a lot about the SSU’s achievements over the last three years.

Of course, there will always be skeptics. But I suggest they ask themselves a few simple questions:

• During the tenure of which SSU Head putin’s crony was arrested and declared a suspect?
• When did the SSU investigate criminal cases involving top politicians and leaders of parliamentary factions?
• Have there ever been more extensive and massive exposures of enemy agents in state authorities than in recent years?
• Who started to systematically investigate pro-russian parties and began to counter enemy propaganda?
• When did property and infrastructure facilities, appropriated by crooks earlier, start to return to state ownership?

This list can go on.

Yes, not everything planned was completed. There were also miscalculations, the reasons for which should be analyzed separately. It is also worth remembering that in a few years it is difficult to change a system that for decades had been under the influence of a strong and insidious adversary with unlimited resources. 

Let me remind you that the enemy wanted to capture Kyiv and the country in 3 days. And in this the aggressor relied on their intelligence networks, which were supposed to act at the start of the full-scale invasion. But at this most critical moment, the enemy agents did not work - the SSU had in advance built an effective system to neutralize them. And this is also one of the outcomes indicating the level of the SSU’s work.

I sincerely thank every honest and professional SSU employee for their service. I am grateful to the people of Ukraine for their trust during these three years. Hopefully, the achievements of the next SSU heads will only be better.

And finally: now, when the most loyal sons and daughters of Ukraine die every day, when Russian missiles kill our children and burn Ukrainian wheat, we should not forget about unity. Our strength is in our unity. We must jointly and confidently move towards our only goal - Victory over the enemy!

Because behind us is the Truth. And with us is God.

Glory to Ukraine! Death to the enemies.

Sincerely,

Ivan Bakanov