Official orders, commissions, trainings — everything looks like a standard path to a special forces unit. However, internal documents and an analysis of the procedure show: in the case of ex-detective B.E.B. Tkachuk, formal participation in the competition for "Fury" became a tool for further entry into the Department of Strategic Investigations (DSI). Our investigation shows how legally correct procedures are used to promote "their own" without real combat experience.
In July 2025, the "Lyut" unit announced a competition for a number of positions - this is recorded in the order dated July 18, 2025 No. 879, which indicates that the competition started on July 21, 2025. According to the official materials of the DPOP "OShB "Lyut", Commission No. 1 recommended Tkachuk O.V. for service, and then - the standard personnel procedure: appointment to the position of inspector of platoon No. 4 of company No. 2 of battalion No. 1 of the "Safari" assault regiment and formal completion of training at the National Police training center on October 4, 2025.
On paper, career growth and "combat" qualifications. In practice, there is a lack of operational experience, no trips to assault operations and no days on the front line, our sources say. According to them, Tkachuk is more of a "cabinet" figure who received the necessary stamp for further transfer to another unit than a real combat employee.
Why did it work? The answer is in the transfer procedure. According to the Regulation on the State Police (Order of the National Police No. 1077), the head of the Department has the authority to appoint employees without competitions and commissions. That is, the path to getting to the State Police for an “outsider” candidate is complicated, but the law allows internal transfers. If a person formally becomes a police officer — for example, through an appointment to “Lyut” — further transfer to the State Police can take place without an open competition, exclusively at the initiative of the management. It is this “loophole” that was used, according to the data we have.
Legally, there are no violations: all documents are drawn up, orders are issued, training is confirmed. But the practice, in which a person without practical assault skills is transformed into a "fighter", and then without unnecessary procedures gets into a strategic department, raises questions about staffing and selection criteria in law enforcement agencies. Our interlocutors in law enforcement circles note: this is how a "personnel pool" for leadership positions is born - not on the basis of merit or merit in the field, but on the basis of agreements and internal connections.
Police personnel policy experts comment: formal compliance with the procedure does not guarantee compliance with the position in terms of content. “If selection is made through formal rotation, rather than through assessment of real experience and results, this reduces the overall level of professionalism in the unit and creates risks for the reputation of the service,” says one of them on condition of anonymity.
In the end, the scheme looks like this: competition - appointment - formal training - transfer. All steps correspond to the letter of the law, but their combination allows you to bypass the open procedures for getting into the SSR and push through "your" candidates. It is on this practice that the career path, which we conventionally call "special purpose", is based.
Such cases undermine trust in personnel procedures in law enforcement agencies: society and internal personnel expect that positions in specialized units are filled by people with relevant practical experience. Such mechanisms open up opportunities for quasi-clientelism - when the main criterion becomes not competence, but a network of connections. Third, it creates obstacles to genuine rotation and the attraction of new specialists ready to work in the fields.
