Ivan Bakanov

Biography Ivan Bakanov was born in Kryvyi Rih. He is a childhood friend of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. They studied together and later worked over different projects, namely, Kvartal 95 Studio.

He was the head of the Kvartal 95 troupe from January 2013 and of Kvartal 95 Studio since December 2013.

Ivan Bakanov was part of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's team during 2019 presidential campaign. He was the leader of the Servant of the People party from 2017 to 2019.

In July 2024 Bakanov received a lawyer's certificate from the Poltava Oblast Bar Council.

Bakanov was appointed as a Member of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on 28 May 2019.

On 29 May, the SBU announced that Bakanov would hold the post of the Deputy Head of the Security Service of Ukraine since 3 June. Bakanov declared he was not going to apply for further ranks.

Bakanov was officially appointed as the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine by parliament on 29 August 2019.

Bakanov himself said that the SBU should become more efficient – not only deal with the consequences, but also neutralize threats in the bud. A new law “On the SBU”, drafted under Bakanov's leadership, is according to its makers to gain such results. In February 2020 it was expected to be passed in spring 2020. According to human rights lawyer Volodymyr Yavorsky the proposed law will “give virtually unlimited and uncontrolled powers to the SBU which are not typical for democratic countries.”

He was dismissed as head of SBU by Zelenskyy on 17 July 2022.

Bakanov was dismissed under Article 47 of the Disciplinary Statute of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which states:

Later, a clarification was issued by the presidential office that Bakanov had actually been "suspended" (and not dismissed) pending an inquiry into the work of the SBU. (In February 2023 this inquiry was completed, but its results were classified. In June 2019, her husband stated that she is in line to get Ukrainian citizenship. According to Bakanov's 2019 e-declarations, Oksana is, since 2019, a citizen of Ukraine.

He has a son Artur, who was a student at Kyiv National Economic University as of 2019. Since March 2022 he is a junior sergeant in the Counterintelligence Department of the Security Service of Ukraine.