BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

17/07/2007

Belarusian president fires KGB chief and first deputy in shake-up of security services

MINSK, Belarus (AP) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, sometimes called dismissed the head of the country's KGB and his first deputy Tuesday.

KGB Chairman Stepan Sukhorenko and First Deputy Head Vasily Dementey were transferred to other jobs, Lukashenko's office said. Their new positions were not announced.

Sukhorenko was replaced by the head

of the presidential security service, Yuriy Zhadobin, who has been told to work on the president's office said.

The dismissals follow the arrest in June on bribery charges of two KGB officers, one of them retired. The two men were believed to be close to Sukhorenko.

Opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich welcomed Sukhorenko's dismissal, saying he was associated with crackdowns on democratic forces.

The security and intelligence service in Belarus, unlike Russia, has kept its Soviet-era name.

Lukashenko, criticized in the West for his iron-fisted rule, has said the fight against corruption is one of his priorities.

Source:

http://www.pr-inside.com/belarusian-president-fires-kgb-chief-and-r174510.htm