Zelensky & Corruption
- Karl Johansson
- 28 juli
- 2 min läsning
Ukraine is becoming more like Russia. A clear win for Putin.
With the war in Ukraine being fully attrition based the home front is as important as the war front. That makes Ukrainian president Zelensky’s decision to neuter anti-corruption agencies in Ukraine a major mistake. War is politics through other means and Zelensky has now adopted a position his enemies want to force on him through other means. Russia wants Ukraine to be a weak, internally divided, corrupt state firmly outside the West. Not enforcing corruption laws strictly when it is a politician on your side standing accused is a great way of becoming more like Russia.
It is also a symbolic own-goal. These anti-corruption agencies in question – NABU and SAPO – were the product of the Maidan revolution. An episode all about becoming more Western with better governance and closer ties to the EU. Getting accepted as a full EU member state requires competent anti-corruption work, especially in country as plagued by corruption as Ukraine. As I’ve argued before on the blog, the chances of Ukraine ever becoming a full EU member were remote before, and things are looking worse now.
In the short term Zelensky may benefit politically in the sense of letting him keep some of his staff who were under investigation by SAPO and NABU but in the long term it harms him and the broader country. The optics are plainly terrible, for Zelensky, for Ukraine. Why support this man if he as one Rada member put it accordingto The Economist “legalised corruption”. What point is there in supporting Ukraine if money and supplies meant to help them fight of the Russians are looted by politicians?
One day the Russians might be able to buy influence in Ukraine now that corruption laws are selectively enforced. Why fight when you can bribe? If the war is only about territory, about who controls which lands, then this is an unimportant development. But if it is about more than that, about Ukraine and her people’s right to determine their own future and be independent from Moscow then this law change is a blow as big as losing a city.
If you liked this post you can read a previous post about Trump's Ukraine policy here or the rest of my writings here. I also have a section for longer reads I call essays here, I particularly recommend my essay on Silicon Valley and AI called 'No Acoustic Guitars in Silicon Valley'. It'd mean a lot to me if you recommended the blog to a friend or coworker. Come back next Monday for a new post!
I've always been interested in politics, economics, and the interplay between. The blog is a place for me to explore different ideas and concepts relating to economics or politics, be that national or international. The goal for the blog is to make you think; to provide new perspectives.
Written by Karl Johansson
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Cover photo by Tima Miroshnichenko from Pexels, edited by Karl Johansson
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