You're reading: Serhiy Knyazev appointed National Police chief

The Cabinet of Ministers has appointed Serhiy Knyazev as chief of the National Police on Feb. 8. Before that, Knyazev worked as the head of the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department.

Knyazev’s appointment was met with mixed reactions. While he has a good reputation as a manager, experts are concerned with his dependency on Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and accusations of corruption. Critics also doubt his reformist credentials because has long been a top official of the old police system.

Knyazev did not respond to requests for comment.

Yevhenia Zakrevska, a lawyer for killed EuroMaidan Revolution protesters, said on Feb. 5 that an Avakov protege was set to win the competition. Independent candidates from outside the police system, including lawyer Leonid Antonenko and Justice Ministry employee Andriy Vyshnevetsky, have been rejected.

Under Ukrainian law, the National Police must be politically independent.

Critics, including Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan and acting Health Minister Ulana Suprun, have dismissed ongoing competitions for top state jobs as rigged procedures used by corrupt interests to appoint government loyalists.
Knyazev was picked by Avakov from among the three candidates for the job that were chosen by a special selection committee. There were 70 applicants.

“My main task is relentless struggle against the crime, and continuation of reforms,” Knyazev said at a government meeting on Feb. 8.

Knyazev will be leading the force of approximately 100,000 police officers. The position has been vacant since November, when Georgian-born reformer Khatia Dekanoidze resigned from the job citing political pressure.

Law enforcement expert Denys Monastyrsky said that Knyazev is “a classical anti-crisis manager who is very well aware of the situation in the country from Uzhhorod to Bakhmut.”

He added that Knyazev was known for rigid methods of management but will not have the freedom of actions because of organizational and financial dependence on Avakov.

“He will work with Avakov as one team but will be able to form his own team in the National Police, unlike the previous police chief, Dekanoidze,” Monastyrsky told the Kyiv Post adding that Knyazev’s first steps will likely to be aimed at solving tactical problems like establishing better communication between various police departments and improving supplies.

Prior to offering Knyazev’s candidacy for appointment Avakov on Feb. 6 interviewed him and his competitors, the selection’s finalists: Vyshnevsky and deputy head of the National Police Kostyantyn Bushuyev.

“I hope that the police General Knyazev, with his ‘on-the-ground’ experience, high personal authority, longing for reforms, excellent record of service, and real combat experience, is the best candidate for the chief of the National Police,” Avakov said on Facebook on Feb. 7.

Knyazev, 45, has worked in police his whole life. He was awarded the Order of Danylo Halytsky, a high state award that is awarded to the military officers for courage in defending Ukraine.

In the past several years, Knyazev has been changing jobs frequently. Since 2014, he has served as chief of police in Rivne Oblast and Zakarpattya Oblast, and deputy chief of police in Donetsk Oblast.

One of his achievements was an arrest in March 2016 of a group of smugglers in Zakarpattya Oblast, who tried to move abroad 300 kilograms of amber worth Hr 200 million.

Knyazev’s appointment as National Police chief was tainted immediately with corruption allegations.

Ukrainian journalist Denys Bihus reported on Feb. 6 that while Knyazev’s income declaration has no mention of his wife, the official state registries list a woman named Viktoriya Knyazeva, who co-owns an apartment with the new police chief, and has acquired seven apartments and four land plots in the recent years. The woman never owned a private business, according to the state Register of Legal Entities.

Knyazev hasn’t commented on the journalist’s discovery yet.

Knyzev’s own latest declaration showed modest assets and income. According to it, in 2015 he owned an apartment in Brovary, a satellite city near Kyiv, a 25-percent-share of an apartment in a Kyiv suburb, and two small land plots near Kyiv. He earned Hr 272,000 in salary and Hr 366,000 through real estate sales in 2015.