The Security Service of Ukraine’s spokeswoman Maryna Ostapenko announced this at a news briefing.

According to Ostapenko, employees of the Security Service of Ukraine went to the Interior Affairs Ministry on Wednesday to obtain information about links between employees of the Security Service of Ukraine and such gangs.

Ostapenko said that employees of the Security Service of Ukraine would be held responsible if they were found to have such links. Otherwise, she said that the Security Service of Ukraine would demand an apology from the Interior Affairs Ministry.

Interior Affairs Minister Yurii Lutsenko recently said that officials and employees of the Main Department for Fighting Organized Crime and the Security Service of Ukraine possibly had corrupt links with one drug gang.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the interior affairs ministries of the member-countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States agreed in early June to develop cooperation in combating illegal narcotic trafficking.

The Kyiv prosecutor’s office said in May that the efforts of the criminal police to prevent narcotics addition, alcoholism, and smoking among minors were not effective.