The top leadership of the SBU and the Ministry of Internal Affairs have submitted documents to obtain the status of combatants.
This became known from official responses provided by security forces to Member of Parliament Serhiy Rudyk. In early February, he submitted a parliamentary inquiry inquiring about the number of first- and second-category civil servants in law enforcement agencies who claim combat veteran status.
The Prosecutor General's Office, the Ministry of Defense, the Security Service, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs sent responses to the request.
It turned out that the leadership of the Prosecutor General's Office and the Defense Ministry did not claim "combat status."
In contrast, there were four candidates in the Security Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
"The commission for reviewing materials on recognizing combatants within the Security Service of Ukraine has reviewed and submitted documents regarding first-category civil servants V. A. Nalyvaichenko, head of the Security Service of Ukraine, and Yu. B. Artyukhov, first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine, for consideration by the interdepartmental commission," reads the response to a parliamentary inquiry from a member of parliament. The letter is dated February 20. It's possible that the interdepartmental commission has already made a decision in the past month.
Unlike the counterintelligence service leadership, the top brass of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have already received combat participant certificates.
As stated in the letter from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the status was granted to Deputy Minister Colonel General Sergei Anatolyevich Yarov and Lieutenant General of Police Vasily Fedorovich Pascal.
According to data from the State Service for War Veterans and ATO Participants, as of March 23, 22,381 participants in the anti-terrorist operation had received combatant status. Twenty-six applicants were denied status due to a lack of sufficient grounds. Twenty-two cases were sent back for revision, in most cases due to incomplete documentation.
On August 20, 2014, the government adopted Resolution No. 413, which approved the Procedure for Granting Combatant Status to Participants in the Anti-Terrorist Operation. This status entitles participants to a number of social and material benefits, including: discounts on utility bills, free medical care, including medications, examinations and treatment, spa treatment, and public transportation.
Previously, Glavkom raised the issue of the integrity of the register of participants in the anti-terrorist operation. The wave of scandals even reached the Presidential Administration. Glavkom reported that its own ATO veterans had been discovered not only in the Cabinet of Ministers' system, but also at Bankova Street. High-ranking officials "fabricated" themselves as ATO participants, yet had very little connection to the actual combat operations in the east of the country.
Among them were Dmitry Yelmanov, Head of the Presidential Administration's Main Department for Law Enforcement and Anti-Corruption, and Yevhen Dobryak, Head of the Presidential Administration's Main Department for National Security and Defense. Both officials were dismissed from the Administration following the publication of the investigation.
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