Before Russia invaded Ukraine, Western officials always cited corruption in Ukraine as the reason why Kyiv couldn’t join NATO or the EU. After the invasion, those concerns appeared to fall by the wayside as the US and its allies shipped billions of dollars worth of weapons and economic aid into Ukraine.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent firing of two senior officials has brought the issue back up. Zelensky sacked his top prosecutor and the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) over allegations that many people in their departments were collaborating with Russia.
A Western official close to the Ukrainian government told Politico that Zelensky’s move appears to move away from the EU’s request for Ukraine to crack down on corruption and allow its law enforcement agencies to be more independent. Many anti-corruption activists believe the firings were an example of Zelensky using his wartime powers to consolidate more control.
Just a few months before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the US was still calling out the government of Ukraine for not appointing a corruption prosecutor. “The EU and the US are greatly disappointed by unexplained and unjustifiable delays in the selection of the Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Office, a crucial body in the fight against high-level corruption,” the US Embassy in Kyiv said on October 6, according to The Associated Press.
In June 2021, President Biden was asked if Ukraine will join NATO and said, “The fact is they still have to clean up corruption.” While Biden has expressed concern about Ukraine’s corruption, his family has benefited from it. After the US-backed ousting of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014, then-Vice President Biden’s son Hunter landed a high-paying job on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian natural gas company.
The State Department dismissed concerns about Zelensky’s latest firings. “In all of our relationships, and including in this relationship, we invest not in personalities; we invest in institutions, and, of course, President Zelenskyy has spoken to his rationale for making these personnel shifts,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Monday.
Earlier in the war, Zelensky banned 11 political parties, including the country’s leading opposition party, Opposition Platform — For Life. But the move received little criticism from the West.
My interpretation is twofold. These men and women are realists whereas Zelenski is pursuing an unrealistic nightmare. It probably also means that the people of Ukraine might slowly beginning to get tired of this war and of Zelenski’s leadership.
I hope you are right Dieter.
Washington worships corruption. Its concern is only for a narrow variety, black marketing NATO arms, especially to Russia, … which appears to be the purport of the reporting on the Security firings.
The one that really needs to be sacked is Zelensky himself…!
Zelensky may end up like the Diem brothers.
It’s the same whitewashing we did regarding the Afghan and Iraqi governments we installed, Patriots All, until we later decide they were Not. Right now, no one is allowed to say a bad word about Zelensky; he’s “Churchillian”. Because if he’s not, if he’s just another corrupt bum in a long series of corrupt bums to afflict Ukraine, we can’t justify showering money on him – most of which profits US arms suppliers, the military, and politicians far more than it benefits the average Ukrainian. So yes, Z is corrupt; but so are we; so, Perfect Together.
Maybe there is a conflict with some officials who think enough is enough and think it time find a diplomatic solution to save the country and the people?