Ukraine protests: Protesters rally in Kyiv against crackdown on major anti-corruption firms - that could derail country’s bid to join EU
Protests have erupted in Ukraine against a government crackdown on two major anti-corruption organisations that could derail the country’s bid to join the European Union.
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian parliament approved a bill that brought the national anti-corruption bureau, known as Nabu, and the specialised anti-corruption prosecutor’s office, Sapo, under the direct control of the country’s prosecutor general. The country’s prosecutor general answers to the president.
Zelensky signed the legislation into force just hours later. He said it was necessary to purge the organisations of “Russian influence.” He also criticised the organisations for allowing some criminal cases to be left “lying dormant” for years.
However, critics said that the move would make it less likely that high-ranking officials who are guilty of corruption would face justice. Both organisations were founded with western assistance after the 2014 Maidan revolution in Kyiv.
It toppled Viktor Yanukovych, the country’s notoriously corrupt pro-Moscow leader. They were tasked with acting as independent groups that would root out and prosecute corruption without political interference.
Last month, Nabu named Oleksiy Chernyshov, who was at the time a Ukrainian deputy prime minister, as a suspect in a “large-scale” corruption scheme led by a property developer from Kyiv. Chernyshov, who is said to be a close friend of Zelensky’s, was the highest-placed Ukrainian official in history to be charged with corruption. He denied the charges, but lost his post in government this month when Zelensky appointed a new cabinet.
Last night several thousand protesters, including soldiers, rallied outside the presidential office in Kyiv. They condemned the move against the anti-corruption groups as a sign of growing authoritarianism and a betrayal of the ideas that powered the Maidan revolution. The demonstration was the first significant show of public dissent against Zelensky since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.