Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation fails to launch internal probe into anti-corruption activist Vitaliy Shabunin photo leak

Two months after a public promise, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has not launched an internal service investigation into the leak of private photos belonging to Vitaliy Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC) and a member of the military. Furthermore, criminal proceedings were initiated only after Shabunin filed a formal complaint with a court. The victim himself has not yet been interrogated by investigators.

Photo credit: Interfax-Ukraine

Two months ago, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) publicly pledged to thoroughly vet its employees who may have had access to the private information of Vitaliy Shabunin, head of the AntAC and a serving member of the military. The case involves the dissemination of his intimate photographs across Telegram channels in December 2025.

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However, in response to a formal inquiry from AntAC regarding the status of the probe, the SBI admitted that, as of today, no internal service investigation has been opened or conducted.

A letter signed by Oksana Zhiblova, Head of the Department for Public Inquiries, stated that the SBI’s Internal Control Department received no materials regarding staff involvement in the dissemination of intimate photos via Telegram.

AntAC pointed out that Zhiblova is the wife of Serhiy Zhiblov, a Senior Investigator at the SBI. Previously, Zhiblov sent a letter threatening Daria Kaleniuk, Executive Director of AntAC, with criminal prosecution.

AntAC maintains that the SBI never intended to investigate its own employees, despite the fact that such a leak could not have occurred without internal access. The organization emphasized that a comprehensive inquiry requires a formal service investigation. Such a process would allow for:

• Identifying who accessed the photographs;
• Auditing how evidence was stored;
• Inspecting work computers;
• Making personnel decisions based on the findings.

The Prosecutor General’s Office informed AntAC that criminal proceedings have been registered regarding the violation of Vitaliy Shabunin’s privacy. However, the investigation is being conducted by the SBI — the very agency allegedly responsible for the leak. The case was only opened after Shabunin successfully appealed the Prosecutor General’s Office’s inaction in court.

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Nearly two months have passed, yet investigators have failed to interrogate Shabunin as the victim. AntAC emphasized that a criminal investigation does not preclude an internal service probe, as both processes can run concurrently.

Olena Shcherban, Shabunin’s lawyer, noted that the SBI initially promised a thorough check but dismissed the allegations as “baseless” before the inquiry even started. Two months later, it was revealed that the bureau had not even initiated a service investigation.

“An internal service probe is always a process parallel to a criminal investigation; one does not exclude the other. It is specifically an internal audit that leads to dismissals or other disciplinary actions. The absence of such a probe is a clear sign that the SBI is simply covering up for its own employees instead of investigating them,” the lawyer added.

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The Anti-Corruption Action Center believes that the refusal to conduct a service investigation and the reluctance to interrogate the victim call into question the objectivity of the entire proceedings. They suggest that a full investigation might inevitably lead the authorities back to themselves.

According to AntAC, the photo leak incident confirms the urgent need to reform the SBI and the Prosecutor General’s Office, both of which remain under the influence of the Presidential Office.

Ukraine’s European partners have identified the SBI reform as one of the top ten priorities for 2026. At the beginning of the year, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pledged to submit an urgent bill to Parliament to reform the bureau, but he has yet to do so. Publicly, it has emerged that the government proposed its own version of the bill to European partners — a move AntAC views as an attempt by the authorities to maintain political control over the agency.

Vitaliy Shabunin believes the leak was a retaliatory strike by law enforcement following AntAC’s report, “Whose hands are destroying NABU and SAP?”, which detailed interference in the work of anti-corruption agencies.