Friday24 January 2025
g-novosti.in.ua

The Ministry of Justice has not renewed the contract of Alexander Ruvin, the director of the KNIISÉ.

The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine has not renewed the contract with Alexander Ruin, the head of the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise (KNIISF), who has been in charge since 2011. This was reported on January 2nd via Telegram by the outlet "Schemes," which also noted that "Ruin holds both Ukrainian and Israeli citizenship."
Минюст не продлил контракт с директором КНИИСЭ Александром Рувиным.

Today, the institute introduced its new leader. The position has been taken by Maxim Kiselev, the former head of the Department of the State Executive Service of the Ministry of Justice. The order appointing Kiselev as acting director of the KNIISSE was signed on January 1, 2025, by the Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine – Minister of Justice of Ukraine Olha Stefanyshyna, according to "Schemes" citing a message from Stefanyshyna's deputy Andriy Haichenko.

In December, journalists speculated that the Ministry of Justice, which oversees the KNIISSE, might not extend the contract with Ruvi, which was set to expire on January 1, 2025. This was particularly suggested if information regarding his second citizenship was confirmed.

As "Schemes" discovered, before obtaining access to state secrets from the Security Service of Ukraine, Ruvi "directly indicated" in his application that he holds Israeli citizenship. When asked by journalists about this, he replied that "he no longer has it," adding that "it wasn't much of a citizenship anyway," and referred to it as a permanent residency status.

At that time, it was reported that the Ministry of Justice noted that if the competent authorities confirm this, the question of not extending Ruvi's contract would be considered.

Additionally, the report mentioned that during the years 2016–2021, Ruvi was remembered for meetings with "influential people," which could indicate a conflict of interest, along with an investigation into his potential illegal enrichment and inaccurate income declarations, which did not align with the elite real estate and luxury vehicles used by Ruvi and his family.