KIEV, March 23 – Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration officials are involved in the activities of criminal gangs operating in Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) chief Valentyn Nalyvaichenko said.

"A criminal gang that operated in Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, gangsters who used weapons against law enforcement officers, and gangsters who kidnapped people, are a single organized criminal group, a single gang. They turn to and sometimes even get help [from regional officials], and we have reasons to suspect officials of Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration of financing them," he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Monday.