KIEV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian police officers charged into a televised government meeting Wednesday and detained two top officials on suspicion of extorting bribes.
Police snapped handcuffs onto emergency services chief Serhiy Bochkovsky and his deputy and calmly marched the pair out of the Cabinet meeting.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said Bochkovsky and his deputy, Vasiliy Stoyetsky, were suspected of extorting bribes from fuel suppliers.
“This was not a show, this was not theater,” Avakov said. “We decided it was necessary to do it this way, during the Cabinet meeting, as inoculation, as a preventative measure against corrupt officials, of whom we unfortunately have many.”
Avakov said the offices of the emergency services were being raided as part of investigations.