Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has tightened his control over the country’s security and armed forces by appointing a new defense minister and security service chief.
Analysts and former top officials say the new appointments are men who have been chosen for their loyalty to the president.
Dmytro Salamatin was appointed defense minister on Feb. 8, five days after Ihor Kalinin was tapped as the new head of the SBU, the nation’s KGB successor agency.
Salamatin replaced Mikhailo Yezhel, who resigned without giving a reason. Kalinin takes over from Valeriy Khoroshkovsky, who last month was appointed finance minister.
Under Ukraine’s constitution, the president can make government appointments without the approval of parliament or any other government body or agency.
Former Russian citizen Salamatin, 46, recently headed the state company that exports and imports arms. He has no military experience.
While serving as a lawmaker with the ruling Party of Regions, he is notoriously remembered for fighting in parliament on April 27, 2010 after Yanukovych extended the lease of Russia’s Black Sea naval fleet in Crimea to at least 2042.
Yanukovych called Salamatin a reformer, but critics saw other reasons behind the appointment.
“It’s very clear, the main feature of his appointment is loyalty and his readiness to fulfill any order,” said Anatoliy Hrytsenko, a former defense minister. “We cannot afford such appointments, which aren’t normal in European states. Such people cannot be former journalists or librarians.”
Oleksandr Skipalsky, a former SBU lieutenant-general and ex-head of the military intelligence department within the Defense Ministry, said Salamatin’s appointment shows that “creative or strategic state builders aren’t being sought after as candidates … Yanukovych is stepping on the same rake that his predecessor did by appointing people who aren’t competent.”
New SBU chief Kalinin, 52, was born and raised in Russia, where he served in the Soviet KGB. He had headed the state body responsible for guarding the nation’s high-ranking officials since April 2010, including the president.
Skipalsky said Kalinin’s father and he were career KGB officers “who were brought up in the Chekist traditions,” referring to the Cheka, a predecessor of the KGB.
Kalinin moved to Ukraine in 1992, after the nation gained independence, to teach at the SBU academy. From 2005-2010, he reportedly worked for a private security firm comprised of former SBU officers called Alpha.
However, Hrytsenko said Kalinin will find it difficult to go from managing 3,000 people to a state security operation of 35,000 people, and from “being a bodyguard to protecting the nation’s security. I doubt he understands the structure he’ll be leading.”
Political scientist Vadym Karasiov of the Global Strategies Institute said Kalinin’s appointment means he’ll be tasked with the priority of protecting the “Yanukovych regime” first and the nation’s interests second.
The measure, which replaced mogul Khoroshkovsky at the SBU, also is a political sign that Yanukovych has removed any influence the nation’s oligarchs can have on the nation’s security, defense and law enforcement agencies, Karasiov said.
“The oligarchs may have to start searching for alternative ways of influencing these structures. It’s a sign that Yanukovych fears betrayal from within,” Karasiov said.
Asked about Salamtin and Kalinin being former Russian nationals, former SBU Lieutenant General Skipalsky said that it isn’t a global practice to give key government positions to former citizens of foreign countries: “There is an element of alarm in these appointments,” he said.
Kalinin and Salamatin have yet to comment publicly on their appointments and roles.
Kyiv Post staff writer Mark Rachkevych can be reached at [email protected].
