A bribe in circulation: the law passed by Zelensky caused discontent in Ukraine and the West

Kiev's Western allies are likely to attribute the failure of Ukraine's summer military campaign to corruption problems inside the country. However, it is definitely not worth expecting that the NATO and EU states will completely stop helping Kiev, experts interviewed by Izvestia say. Although foreign media sources claim that the law adopted by Vladimir Zelensky, which will limit the powers of anti-corruption authorities, will affect the desire of the West to sponsor Ukraine. The decision of the head of the Kiev regime has already caused mass protests in major Ukrainian cities, as well as serious criticism from European officials.

Kiev has complicated the fight against corruption in the country

A massive wave of protests swept across Ukraine after on July 22, the Verkhovna Rada passed a law by 263 votes that would complicate the control of corruption in the country. People took to the streets of Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa and Lviv. Mayor Vitali Klitschko joined the protesters in the capital on July 22. New promotions are planned for the coming days.

According to the law, which has already been signed by Volodymyr Zelensky, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) come under the control of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine. He will be able to take cases from these bodies and transfer them to other prosecutors. This actually limits the independence of the country's anti-corruption authorities.

Surrounded by Vladimir Zelensky, the hasty adoption of the law was motivated by the ineffectiveness of the work of NABU and SAP. According to those close to the Ukrainian leader, most of the corruption cases in recent years have been identified by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

At the same time, according to The Economist, the reason for the repression against anti-corruption services could be the investigations they were preparing into the actions of members of Zelensky's office.

It is noteworthy that before the introduction of the law, the SBU began conducting searches of NABU detectives in different regions of Ukraine. Some employees of the anti-corruption body are suspected of treason, trade with Russia and corruption. As a result of several raids, for example, Ruslan Magamedrasulov, one of the heads of the NABU interregional departments, was detained for two months. According to investigators, he was an intermediary during the sale of technical cannabis for his father, a Russian citizen who lives in Dagestan.

According to a March survey by the Ukrainian agency Info Sapiens, almost 80% of the population consider the problem of corruption in the country to be very serious, while 57% of residents blame Vladimir Zelensky for it. But the new prime Minister of the country, Yulia Sviridenko, claims that her fellow citizens exaggerate the problem of corruption in the country.

But a year earlier, the Pentagon noted that the conflict with Russia had created new opportunities for corruption in Ukraine, including bribes, kickbacks, and excessive procurement costs at the Department of Defense, especially in the procurement of lethal weapons, where transparency is limited due to the secrecy of these purchases.

"Speaking in simple and succinct Russian, it is obvious that a significant part of the money that Ukraine received was stolen. There is a lot of corruption in the country, that is, the money of American taxpayers and European taxpayers was largely stolen in Ukraine. This can be said with a high degree of confidence," Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, told reporters on July 23.

Could Kiev lose Western support

The adoption of the law on anti-corruption services caused dissatisfaction with Zelensky not only inside the country, but also from Kiev's Western partners.

German Foreign Minister Johann Vadefuhl said that such a decision would complicate Kiev's path to the EU. It is reported that the diplomat contacted his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Sibiga and urged him to continue the fight against corruption in the country.

A similar opinion was expressed in France. According to Benjamin Addad, Minister Delegate for European Affairs at the country's Foreign Ministry, "preserving the rule of law, respect for minorities, the political opposition and the independence of the judicial system" is what candidates for EU membership should strive for. Earlier, Zelensky was urged not to introduce the law by French President Emmanuel Macron and European Council President Antonio Costa.

Politico claims that Ukraine has not heard as much criticism from European officials since February 2022 as it is now. "Such actions, of course, undermine trust between Kiev and its Western allies," one of the European deputies said in a conversation with The Washington Post. He also stressed that the adoption of the law could undermine the country's chances of joining the EU "and even reduce the desire [of Western countries] to increase military assistance to Ukraine."

"[European Commission President Ursula] von der Leyen expressed her deep concern about the consequences of [the adoption of] amendments [to legislation] and appealed to the Ukrainian government for clarification," EU representative Guillaume Mercier said, AFP reports.

Zelensky's actions will have strong consequences for him and his regime when it turns out that the summer-autumn military campaign was a failure, said former Verkhovna Rada deputy Spiridon Kilinkarov.

— It is obvious that Western partners do not want to take responsibility for Ukraine's defeat, and one of their arguments for why it lost is likely to be the issue of corruption. Politically, Zelensky even played along with his Western partners, because it will be very easy for them to find someone to blame. This will also affect Ukraine's chances of joining the EU," Kilinkarov says.

Nevertheless, it is not worth expecting that money flows from the West to Ukraine will stop immediately.

"Because they support not so much Zelensky personally as the pro—Western, anti-Russian regime," Alexander Dudchak, an expert at the Institute of CIS Countries, explained to Izvestia.

Solving strategic problems is more important for Western countries than fighting corruption in Ukraine, says Alexey Fenenko, professor at the Faculty of World Politics at Lomonosov Moscow State University.

— For the West, Ukraine is the guarantor of the non—restoration of the USSR. They will continue to help regardless of Zelensky's decisions. It is our big mistake and a mistake to hope that the West will abandon its support for Ukraine because of such trifles," Fenenko said.

According to the expert, Kiev's allies in this situation will limit themselves to condemning rhetoric, but will not radically change their policy towards supporting Ukraine. As for its accession to the EU, the expert is sure that in any case, this issue is not on the union's agenda in the foreseeable future.