Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Bureau accuses Security Service of targeting former detectives

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has stated in the morning of September 25, 2025, that the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) is carrying out investigative actions against its former detectives, which may signal growing pressure on anti-corruption bodies.

“The National Bureau reports that today the SSU is conducting investigative actions against former detectives of the National Bureau who are now employees of Ukrzaliznytsia, the Ukrainian state railway operator,” the statement reads.

NABU said the SSU’s actions likely stem from the detectives’ earlier work on investigations that exposed organized criminal groups within state-owned companies and government agencies, particularly the SSU itself.

“Such actions may indicate increased systemic pressure on the independence of anti-corruption institutions,” NABU said.

At 10:51, the SSU claimed in its commentary that Ukrzaliznytsia officials are being searched as part of a criminal investigation into abuses in the freight transport sector, which are not related to pressure on anti-corruption agencies. Ukrzaliznytsia is the Ukrainian state-run railway operator.

The service assures that all searches are court-authorised and are being conducted in compliance with Ukrainian law.

“Investigative and operational activities are being carried out exclusively on officials of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia and sole traders who are involved in the relevant criminal cases. The searches of Ukrzaliznytsia officials are not related to ‘pressure on the independence of anti-corruption institutions’, as their representatives claimed today,” the SSU wrote.

It added, “Any abuses in the railway sector, which plays a key role in the logistics of the security and defence forces, as well as in the delivery of weapons and supplies to the front line, are unacceptable.”

By way of background, on July 21, it became known that the SSU and the Office of the Prosecutor General were investigating NABU employees without court warrants. Police special forces and law enforcement officers conducted approximately 80 searches of 19 Bureau employees in various regions of Ukraine.

Earlier, the Security Service of Ukraine and the Office of the Prosecutor General saidі they had exposed a Russian intelligence infiltration into the NABU. A source told the Ukrainska Pravda news outlet that authorities suspected Viktor Husarov.

During the mass searches, the heads of both anti-corruption agencies – NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office – were away on a business trip to London.

Authorities later served notices of suspicion on the employees of the anti-corruption agencies.

On September 8, the SSU and the Office of the Prosecutor General announced that Viktor Husarov, a NABU employee detained in July, had participated in a large Russian intelligence network. Three other previously exposed agents were also involved. They had access to state secrets and restricted documents, used covert methods, and had passed information to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) for years.

The SSU also claims that Ruslan Mahamedrasulov, head of one of NABU’s interregional detective departments, “has contacts with representatives of the aggressor country and helps his father, who is a businessman, conduct illegal trade with the Russian Federationі .