“Why weaken GUR precisely in a very difficult period of the war”: Oleksandr Kochetkov on the release of Kirill Budanov

Constant rumors about the possible dismissal of the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kyryll Budanov, cause interest and discussion in the information space, appearing approximately every few months. However, this time they are based on information from sources who have access to backroom conversations at Bankova.

According to this information, Budanov is apparently planned to be transferred to a new position, formally promoting him to the level of Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi. In fact, such a “transition” looks like a removal from the direct leadership of intelligence and moving to a secondary role, which can be considered a kind of removal from key processes.

Political technologist and analyst Oleksandr Kochetkov emphasizes, that such rumors appear constantly, but this time they received a new impetus due to specific instructions to Andriy Yermak, the head of the President’s Office, as the initiator of such a personnel decision. Yermak allegedly seeks to “promote” Budanov to a less influential position in order to reduce his influence on intelligence and ensure greater control over personnel decisions in the Office of the President.

Such reshuffles are not new to Ukrainian politics, but they may be related to both the internal struggle for influence and the desire to reform defense structures, because the head of the GUR, who has considerable experience and understanding of the situation at the front, may be removed from active participation in operations planning.

“Thank you, otherwise we would never have guessed who in the OP is shuffling the personnel from the supply of the same irreplaceable top managers… There are no formal complaints against Budanov, so they are going to promote him, as it were. And the informal thing is that he has a lot of all kinds of information and — most importantly — he has the right to independently convey it to the Supreme Commander. It is the presence of uncontrollable information for President Zelensky that does not satisfy everyone.

Apparently, by analogy with unfiltered water, there are fears that unfiltered infa can cause brain fog, swelling of the skull and other disorders of the thinking tract.

If we speak seriously, then Budanov can cause a contradictory attitude, but as the head of military intelligence he is successful – this is confirmed at least by the fact that in the recent special operation to destroy the missile arsenal of the aggressor in Toropka (there were “Iskanders”, anti-aircraft missiles, North Korean KN-23 and others) GUR played an important role. And Budanov’s rating is high: trust — in the Ukrainian military (the highest among the military and political leadership), and hatred — in enemy propagandists, because he is an ideologue of transferring the war to enemy territory.

In addition, Budanov has developed relationships with colleagues from our Western partners — rapid personnel changes risk destroying these relationships. By the way, the dismissal of both V. Zaluzhnyi and D. Kuleba is connected precisely with the appearance of their channels of communication with allies.

At the same time, any replacement at this level is a time to study the situation and work out a new line of work. I don’t intend to sing “hosanna” to Mr. Kirill, but why weaken GUR precisely in this very difficult period of the war, when there is a lot of talk about the next peace summit?

The final decision on Budanov’s further service will be made within a few weeks. I hope that common sense will prevail, and the next dismissal of the head of GUR will turn out to be another myth. Who surprises his enemies, and confuses his own.” – wrote Oleksandr Kochetkov on his Facebook page.