In a Facebook post on July 8, Tsyvinsky said the government’s decision violates the law. When the Cabinet announced its refusal to abide by the results of the competition, it cited a letter from Ukraine’s SBU security service, which allegedly raised security concerns related to Tsyvinsky.
“As a citizen, as a law enforcement officer who has successfully passed 10 years of SBU checks, and as someone who, from the first day of the full-scale [Russian] invasion [in 2022], has stood up to defend our country while serving with Defense Intelligence [HUR], it is essential for me to understand which ‘security assessments’ underpinned this decision, especially given my security clearance,” he wrote.
Tsyvinsky said he expects an official response from authorities. He has contacted the Cabinet, the selection committee, and the SBU, asking for full details on the security evaluation that may have influenced the decision. After obtaining the necessary information, he said he is ready to provide detailed comments.
On July 7, the Cabinet overturned the selection committee’s decision to appoint Tsyvinsky as ESB director and ordered a new competition run. The government said it had also reviewed additional materials from the SBU related to national security that contained relevant security assessments.
Earlier, the Anti-Corruption Center reported that, at a selection committee meeting, a letter from the SBU noted that several candidates had relatives with Russian passports, including Tsyvinsky. Tsyvinsky, however, has repeatedly stated that he has not communicated with his father—who lives in Russia—for years. As a NABU detective, he had passed all the required checks to access state secrets, the committee said.
The decision drew harsh criticism from Yaroslav Zheleznyak, the Deputy Chair of the parliamentary Finance Committee.
On June 25, the selection committee announced that Tsyvinsky won the competition to become the new head of the ESB.
A senior detective with the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), Tsyvinsky currently leads one of the bureau’s investigative units. He oversaw NABU’s Clean City operation earlier this year, which exposed and arrested several high-ranking Kyiv City officials for running a public land embezzlement scheme.