Ukraine Sees Demonstrations After Zelensky Endorses Legislation Affecting Anti-Corruption Organizations

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a bill that critics claim weakens the independence of the country’s anti-corruption bodies, leading to protests and international criticism. Critics argue that the new law undermines the authority of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (Nabu) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (Sapo), placing them under the prosecutor general’s control. In his address on Wednesday, Zelensky stated that both agencies would still “work” but need to be cleared of “Russian influence”. After the bill passed, hundreds of people staged the largest anti-government protest since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 in Kyiv, and demonstrations were also seen in Lviv, Dnipro, and Odesa. The changes allow Ukraine’s chief prosecutor, Ruslan Kravchenko, to reassign corruption probes to potentially more pliant investigators and even close them. Zelensky criticized the efficiency of Ukraine’s anti-corruption infrastructure and claimed that the prosecutor general will ensure “the inevitability of punishment” for those who break the law. However, critics argue that this move contradicts more than a decade of pro-democracy and anti-corruption efforts, including the Euromaidan uprising and the downfall of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych in 2014. The Ukrainian government has cited Russian influence for curtailing Nabu’s powers, and the day before the controversial law was passed, Ukraine’s Security Service and the prosecutor general’s office carried out searches and arrests targeting alleged Russian spies at Nabu. Western allies have shown concern as Ukraine’s independent anti-corruption system was established at their insistence and under their supervision, and is a key precondition for their aid and stronger ties. The European Union, in particular, has expressed concerns about Ukraine’s recent actions regarding its anti-corruption institutions, conditioned on progress in transparency, judicial reform, and democratic governance. The European commissioner for enlargement, Marta Kos, criticized the bill’s adoption as a serious step back for Ukraine’s path to joining the EU. Ambassadors from the G7 group of nations also expressed their intentions to discuss the pressure on Nabu and Sapo with Ukrainian leadership. However, Ukraine’s allies are hesitant to roll back the aid and cooperation at a time when the country’s troops are struggling on the frontline.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9w19pl84r8o