Editor’s note: The story initially said that both Serhiy Semochko and Andriy Alekseyenko would be in charge of the Foreign Intelligence Service. Initially the service could not tell the Kyiv Post who would be in charge but later changed its position and said it would be Alekseyenko.
Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service on March 15 triggered a controversy due to uncertainty over who would be in charge of the service after the dismissal of its previous chief, Yegor Bozhok, on March 13.
Under the law, first deputy chiefs take over from fired chiefs of agencies by default, and the Foreign Intelligence Service has two first deputy chiefs – Serhiy Semochko and Andriy Alekseyenko.
Semochko has been embroiled in scandal since last October, when it emerged he and his family had close ties to Russia and had amassed a large amount of expensive assets since Russia launched its war on Ukraine in the Donbas in 2014.
The UNIAN news agency reported on March 15, citing the Foreign Intelligence Service’s press office, that Semochko and Alekseyenko would be in charge of the service until a new chief is appointed.
When approached by the Kyiv Post later on March 15, the agency’s press office said it was not clear who would be in charge. The press office could not say if the quote published by UNIAN was correct.
Subsequently on the same day the service published a statement stating that the UNIAN report was a “fake” and said that Alekseyenko would be in charge until a chief or acting chief of the service is appointed.
In December the counterintelligence unit of the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, confirmed that Tetiana Lysenko, the common-law wife of Semochko, and her daughter Anastasia Koton are Russian citizens.
Semochko is being investigated by the SBU in a treason case. Despite this, he has not been fired or suspended.
In October, Semochko claimed that Lysenko did not have a Russian passport.
However, the Bihus.info investigative journalism project on Oct. 1 published copies of the Russian passports of Lysenko, her daughter Anastasia Koton, and her son-in-law Volodymyr Koton. The authenticity of the passports of Lysenko and Volodymyr Koton was confirmed by Bihus.info through the site of Russia’s Federal Tax Service, which also means they are registered as Russian taxpayers.
Semochko’s family members have also regularly visited Crimea after its invasion and occupation by Russia in 2014, Bihus.info said.
Lysenko also owns a luxury house in the high-end Kyiv suburb of Kozyn, while Anastasia Koton owns two high-end houses there, according to Bihus.info. The houses have an estimated combined value of $8 million.
Semochko admitted on Oct. 16 that Lysenko owns one of the luxury houses, arguing that she had used income from her tourism business in Crimea to fund the purchase. Semochko declined to comment on the assets of Koton and other relatives.
His explanations on the sources of funding contradict the findings of the journalists, according to which the income of his family was hardly sufficient to fund the assets.
According to Bihus.info, Lysenko’s income amounted to $135,000 in 2010 through 2018, while Koton’s income totaled $59,000 during the period, and the income of other relatives was negligible. Semochko has never been a businessman, and an intelligence officer’s salary is not sufficient to buy such assets.
