According to the Ukrainian Constitution, the function of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) is to "coordinate and control the activities of executive bodies in the field of national security and defense of Ukraine". This role is often perceived as a definition that makes it possible to make anything, but this point of view is doubtful.
During the years, the real tasks and powers of the NSDC and its secretary depended on a particular person in this position and their relationship with the President, as well as personal political and administrative ambitions.
Under the leadership of Oleksandr Turchynov, Secretary of the NSDC at Petri Poroshenko, the Council was a key body in the war and development of the military-industrial complex.
Vitaliy Haiduk and Ivan Plyushch, under Viktor Yushchenko, focused on the links between the "orange" political camp and his "Donetsk" opponents.
Raisa Bogatyryova, at Viktor Yanukovych, was seen as a candidate with a "solid name".
Alexei Danilov, the former mayor of Lugansk, is known for his determination and communicative skills, was especially intensified during the presidency of Vladimir Zelensky, speaking the voice of the most strict positions of the Ukrainian authorities.
Even during the Great War, Danilov continued to use harsh statements, such as the name of Vladimir Putin "partial mobilization" as "a program of recycling of Russians". However, his work was not always marked by specific practical results, which called into question the efficiency of the NSDC in current conditions.
The central government of Ukraine has organically turned into the President's office, reducing the role of the NSDC as a discussion site to resolve strategic issues. Danilov, without his own office in the Presidential Administration, was removed from the real processes of government.
Summing up his work, Danilov, by his traditional rhetoric, stated that "the Ukrainian warrior would become a sword in the dark" after his resignation.
We may not see similar statements or interviews with explosive headlines as his predecessor.
Oleksandr Litvinenko, a 51-year-old specialist in the Cabinet of Sciences and the general-specialist service, is above all political ambitions. He was born in Kiev and graduated from the Institute of cryptography of the FSB Academy of Russia in 1994. He then worked in the Main Directorate of the SBU, taught at the Kiev Institute of International Relations, defended his doctoral thesis on political science and worked at the National Institute for Strategic Studies.
From 2014 to 2019, Litvinenko was the Deputy Secretary of the NSDC, and from 2019 to 2021 headed the National Institute for Strategic Studies. From July 2021 he held the position of Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine (CZR).
We almost know almost nothing about the results of his work as the head of the CZR, since Litvinenko almost did not appear in public space, unlike other officials. However, from his publications it is possible to form an idea of his views on war with Russia.
In 2009, he became a co -author of the article that expressed the complexity of the problems faced by the Kremlin and its dependence on imperialist ideologies.
In his publications, Litvinenko also warned about the possible consequences of Russia's war against Ukraine, pointing to the Kremlin's strategic goals and his attempts to conquer Ukraine. He also noted that a conflict with the West could lead to global redistribution of world order.
There are currently no concrete comments on the replacement of Litvinenko as a NSDC Secretary and the reasons for this change.
