The Ukrainian parliament on July 22 approved amendments that effectively destroy the independence of Ukraine’s two key anti-corruption institutions, according to opposition lawmakers and watchdogs.
The legislation grants the prosecutor general new powers over investigations led by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and cases led by the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO).
The step comes as Ukrainian authorities ramp up pressure against the two agencies established as part of the anti-graft reforms after the EuroMaidan Revolution.
Last year, the Journal of Nonprofit Innovation published an analysis on Russian corruption and how it’s spreading a to its neighbours:
As corruption runs rampant within the Russian government, neighboring countries are also recipients of corrupt efforts to destabilize their governments, erode their democracy and jeopardize the support these neighboring countries can give to the security of Europe as a whole […] There is an increasing need for the international community to take proactive measures to combat the corruption of Russia that creeps into their own lands and support the Russian people in securing a free land of their own […]
really, do you want to say these anti-anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine are actually spreading from Russia, of all places?
FYI, there is a lot of research and evidence of “strategic corruption”, meaning that a a government weaponizes corrupt practices as a tenet of its foreign policy, ranging from Germany’s far-right politician Petr Bystron who has been accused of receiving money from Russia in return for influence to Russian links to corruption in Moldova (pdf) and Russia’s corruption-themed propaganda war against Ukraine that said, for example:
Russian state-sponsored strategic corruption campaign is almost certainly Ukraine. For the two decades preceding Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Russia employed a wide variety of corrupt measures to influence Ukrainian politics, including the sale of vast quantities of discounted fossil fuels to bribe pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarchs and create a political class aligned with Kremlin interests […]
You’ll find much more. There is really a lot of evidence.
I don’t want to discount any of those sources and I don’t have much doubt this is happening right now in other places and happened in Ukraine prior to Russia’s invasion. But I doubt there’s anything there that suggests this is what’s happening in Ukraine in this case right now.
Therefore I find it dishonest to bring it up alongside this, it really seems designed to completely dismiss this development.
Nothing here is dishonest, these are reliable sources strongly related to the issue.
Is Russia in any way involved in this bill?
This question is dishonest to use your word, because no one know this. But there is ample evidence of Russia’s (often successful) attempts to interfere and exert influence over others countries, including Ukraine and other countries. There are examples here in this thread in the meantime.
No, this question is a logical consequence of your initial suggestion: Corruption spreading from Russia. Maybe it was just common whataboutism, I don’t know. Then again, by saying now no one knows if Russia was indeed involved you go back to the original insinuation. I’m lost (
It’s good that this kind of news is being shared sometimes.
Ukraine has the right to defend itself, but it still is a corrupt state and not a democracy. Even since before the invasion, they’ve banned political organisations and parties and heavily interfered with any anti-corruption efforts.
Ukraine’s status as a new democracy and the country’s obvious path toward democratic freedom was exactly the major reason why Russia started the invasion of Ukraine in 2014. The Kremlin doesn’t want Russians to see that there is an alternative, freer system than Moscow’s autocratic government.
[Edit typo.]
That is not reality.
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2014 did not turn Ukraine into any more of a democracy. Ukraine has as previously switched between pro-Russian and pro-Western leaders. The 2014 revolution was simply an end to that with a pro-Western win (for now).
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Russia invaded Crime and annexed it in 2014 without military conflict between the sides. The actual war between Russia and Ukraine started only 2022.
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The reason for Russia’s invasion had nothing to do with democracy and internal politics in Russia. The reasons were first maintaining their naval bases on Crime and with that possible domination of the Black Sea. Then not wanting a pro-Western government ruling in Ukraine, preferring a pro-Russian one. After the war started another goal of directly annexing eastern parts of Ukraine became a reason. Ukraine gave them a simple pre-text for this invasion and annexation of territories by militarily cracking down on protests that continued in Eastern Ukraine after the Maiden revolution.
The conflict has nothing to do with political systems or ideological. It’s a conflict of spheres of influence and control over neighbouring countries.
You’re lying.
Russia had been directly involved in the war against Ukraine since 2014, it militarily invaded Ukraine when it occupied the Crimea, and russian soldiers have been fighting Ukraine in Donbass since day 1.
Russia did not use a “pretext” for invasion, it simply created the pretext itself. What you call protests in eastern Ukraine was the armed struggle of Girkin, a russian secret service member. Without this Russian interference, there is no donbas seperatism.
You’re right about one thing: The invasion had nothing to do with internal politics. It was however, about the antagonism of democracy and empire. Russian ultranationalists never accepted Ukraine, and 2014 was simply the first step towards its destruction.
When you talk of “spheres”, you parrot the ideological worldview of Putin. He has sung the praise of a “multipolar world” for years now. The issue is that humanism and democracy recognize no spheres. Instead, every country should be allowed to decide for itself what path it takes. That is the pretext for invasion, do deny Ukraine that right.
You are the one who is lying by parroting western propaganda.
Russia was not involved at first. At first it was simply protests. They were then dispersed by the Ukrainian military. Only when Donbass and Luhansk formed their own governments and militias did Russia start supplying equipment and sending volunteers.
Up until the 2022 invasion, it was still a civil war with increasingly heavier support by Russia for the breakaway regions.
And this is exactly what was their pre-text for the invasion. “Protecting” the ethnic Russians in those breakaway states and those under Ukrainian military rule.
If you do not believe any of this, you’re free to lookup videos of the protests in 2014. There are plenty of videos still available showing the protesters in most prominently Donetsk and Odessa.
Also spheres of influence is not an invention by Putin. This is how the world has worked for a long time. We had the cold war spheres of influence, before that during the interregnum of thr world wars, countries did end up shifting and finally aligning themselves with great powers again. The last stroke were the spheres established by the Molotov-Ribbentropp treaty. And before WW1 there were certainly arguable also spheres of influence across both Europe and the colonies of the great powers.
And lastly no, nothing of this has anything to do with an ideological struggle. We’re not in the cold war anymore. The whole world runs on capitalist economies with republican systems (save for the constitutional monarchies and very few last absolute monarchies). There is no ideological struggle between more authoritarian and more liberal ones. The only struggle there is, is that over spheres, markets, soft power. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has not single thing to do with democracy vs authoritarianism. Russian ultranationalists do not lead the nation. Even in the worst case scenario Russia would annex a part of Ukraine and install a puppet regime over the rest. Ending Ukraine as a nation is neither feasible nor a goal for Putin and the government. The same way that Belarus keeps existing as a nation.
Yes, and Hitler was defending ethnic Germans from Polish persecution and retaliating for Gleiwitz incident which was completely not a false flag. /s
Yeah, and he was “protecting” the whole world from Jews too! /s
Most of these people cannot say exactly from whom those ethnic Russians had to be protected, and of course, they cannot say where ethnic Russians came from to the lands where more Ukrainians used to live (hint: genocide of the Ukrainian people by Russians).
Genocider
In March 2014, Russian troops and affiliated paramilitary units invaded Crimea which is part of Ukraine. This is a very simple historical fact.
That is something I have already addressed. Learn to read, Washington bot.
How did MH 17 get shot down?
How did MH 17 get shot down in Ukraine by Russian armaments if the Russians were not in Ukraine in 2014?
Try using your brain?
By armaments sent to Ukrainian separatists.
So russian supporters also known as Russians. Got it.
I found the fact that you call someone a bot and then continue to spread Russian propaganda and lies to be hilarious, especially since almost anyone can easily debunk these outrageous lies.
Everything I’ve said is factual, not Russian propaganda.
You know what really is ironic? That you libtards call anything you disagree with Russian propaganda and then turn around and spread Western propaganda.
But liberals are just too stupid to ever realize that. You will get your reckoning one day.
Everything I’ve said is factual
Brainwashed delusional lies are not factual, everything you have written about the Russian-Ukrainian war (which has been going on for more than 10-11 years, btw) is complete nonsense.
too stupid
Yeah, you’re the smartest, everyone around you is an idiot because they don’t believe your (easily debunked) lies.
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European countries have to stop this. Corruption will certainly hamper Ukraine’s ability to defend itself, and likely end up with corrupt officials pocketing Europeans aid money.
from what I’ve read, the issue with corruption is EXACTLY the reason why this law was set in place.
masses of cases against all kinds of politicians, police and the latter, cases that remain open and unresolved for years - that’s not really efficient. Plus it seemed the “independent” agency was heavily influenced by russian agents themselves.
However another change/alteration is already being proposed. To me, it looks like an attempt to get rid of these inside jobs and russian influence. A clumsy attempt, but as long as people are able and allowed to protest, are being heard and talked to, we’re on a good path for a free democracy. Anything even remotely similar to that would be unthinkable in russia or even hungary…
I can’t see your optimism as anything but wholly unfounded. An anti-corruption agency that’s not independent cannot do its job, full stop.
A clumsy attempt, but as long as people are able and allowed to protest, are being heard and talked to, we’re on a good path for a free democracy.
And how do you think free democracies devolve into authoritarianism if not for corruption?
