You're reading: First vice premier: Khoroshkovsky abusing his post to defend RosUkrEnergo’s interests

Ukrainian First Vice-Premier Oleksandr Turchynov has accused First Deputy Chief of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Valeriy Khoroshkovsky of abusing his official post to "defend the interests of RosUkrEnergo."

“Khoroshkovsky has defended the interests of RosUkrEnergo since the start of his work at the SBU… In my opinion, he has been using his official post to do so,” he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.

“It is no secret that Khoroshkovsky said himself on TV and during interviews that he has joint business interests with RosUkrEnergo Head [Dmytro] Firtash,” Turchynov said.

He said that Khoroshkovsky had been deliberately appointed to the SBU in order to “block the activities of Naftogaz.”

He also said that while holding the post of State Customs Service head, Khoroshkovsky had actually ignored government orders and “did all he could to prevent the customs clearance of gas from early 2008, which they tried to write off via UkrGaz-Energo, i.e. a subsidiary of RosUkrEnergo.”