Policy

The government will carry out the president’s “urgent” directive to overhaul the State Bureau of Investigation in just 12 months, says a lawmaker

The government may delay submitting the bill on reforming the State Bureau of Investigations until at least the end of 2026, even though the president had previously instructed that it be done without delay.

Anastasia Radina, chair of the parliamentary Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy, wrote about this on social media while commenting on the government’s plans to draft a bill on reforming the SBI, reports "Komersant Ukrainian"

What is the essence of the complaint against the government?

According to Radina, the Cabinet of Ministers promises to draft a bill on SBI reform only by the end of December. At the same time, the MP notes, the president instructed that such a document be submitted immediately back in January.

“The government promises us it will draft a bill on reforming the State Bureau of Investigation by the end of December. Let me remind you that the president instructed them to submit a bill on reforming the State Bureau of Investigation without delay back in January. The government could indeed submit the document in January—though, admittedly, in 2027,” Radina noted.

Thus, this is not merely a delay of a few weeks or months, but effectively a one-year postponement of the fulfillment of the president’s directive.

Why, according to Radina, is this bad news?

The MP emphasizes that the delay in reforming the SBI has direct consequences for the bureau’s management system. In her view, postponing the new rules for selecting the director will allow the old mechanisms of influence over the agency to remain in place.

“There is no good news here. Delaying the development of new rules for selecting the SBI director will allow for the ‘manual’ management of the SBI to continue for another five years,” she emphasized.

In other words, there is a risk that the new head of the SBI will again be selected using the old procedure, without the changes required by Ukraine’s European commitments.

Why December 2026 is key

Radina draws attention to an important timing detail: the term of the current SBI Director, Oleksiy Sukhachov, expires in December. That is why, in her opinion, the government’s reform timeline does not appear to be a technical delay but a politically motivated decision.

“Yes, it is no coincidence that the government needs exactly seven months to ‘draft’ the bill on SBI reform. In December, the term of office of the current SBI Director, Sukhachov, comes to an end. If the government only submits the bill in December, the new SBI director will be elected not under the new rules—with the overwhelming support of international experts—but under the current ones,” the MP explained.

In her view, this will allow the old model to remain in place for the entire new term of the director’s tenure.

How the current system works

Anastasia Radina points out that the current law on the SBI gives decisive influence over the formation of the selection committee to domestic political institutions, while international experts do not have a decisive vote.

“Let me remind you that under the current law, six members—that is, two-thirds of the selection committee—are appointed by parliament upon the recommendation of the Verkhovna Rada’s law enforcement committee and the President, while three international experts are appointed by the government—but their votes are by no means required to make a decision on selecting the winner,” she noted.

It is precisely this model, according to Radina, that needs to be changed if Ukraine truly wants to reform the State Bureau of Investigation in accordance with European integration requirements.

What the opposition proposes as an alternative to the government’s approach

The MP reminded that an alternative option already exists. This refers to Bill No. 13602 on SBI reform, which was registered back in August 2025.

“The esteemed government could save time and use Bill No. 13602 on SBI reform—which we registered with Yaroslav Zheleznyak and our colleagues back in August 2025—as a basis. But then we could have managed to update the law in accordance with European commitments, and even elect an independent director of the SBI—what a ‘trouble’ that would be,” Radina wrote.

With this statement, she is effectively accusing the government of a deliberate unwillingness to accelerate the reform, even though the necessary tools are already in place.

Why this is important for European integration

According to Radina, the issue of SBI reform goes far beyond a personnel matter. She directly links it to Ukraine’s commitments to the European Union.

This involves changing the rules for selecting the SBI director so that international experts have a decisive influence in the competitive selection process. This approach has already become the norm for a number of anti-corruption and law enforcement institutions that Ukraine is reforming as part of its movement toward the EU.

“I would also like to congratulate the government on yet another signal that Ukraine is in no hurry to implement European integration reforms,” the MP concluded.

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