The United States Government wants a series of strict, very specific measures to combat corruption in Ukraine in exchange for its help to the country invaded by Russia. According to the newspaper Pravda of Ukraine, which has leaked the letter written by the US Deputy National Security Advisor, Mike Pyle, to the Donor Coordination Platform, the White House demands specific actions in the courts, the Ministry of Defense and the regulatory bodies of state companies, among others. These measures must be adopted in various periods, from three months (the most urgent) to a year and a half for the most complicated.
The draft, still subject to changes and revision, as specified by the Pravda Ukrainian, comes to light after a series of corruption scandals in Ukraine. Also when in the United States resistance increases among Republican sympathizers and legislators from the hardest wing of that party to continue supporting Ukraine indefinitely, when the war has already been going on for more than a year and a half and has no signs of ending in the short term. . These legislators demand, among other things, greater transparency and accountability regarding the use of these funds. The United States has provided more than $75 billion (€70 billion) to kyiv in military, economic and humanitarian aid.
The document, headed as “Reforms linked to conditions in US assistance”, is also released when the US Congress must approve before September 30 a budget measure that includes an item of 24,000 million dollars (22,700 million euros). for Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Republican and Democratic legislators on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday, precisely to ask congressmen to continue supporting assistance to his country. Otherwise, the Ukrainian leader warns, the Western system of democratic values is in danger.
On that visit, Zelensky also met with US President Joe Biden, who announced a new batch of military assistance for 325 million dollars (305 million euros).
Democrats, led by the White House, and the moderate wing of the Republican Party, insist on the need to continue support for Ukraine “with whatever is necessary and for as long as necessary.” But the US Government also points out that it wants to “make sure that there is accountability” about how that aid is used, as State Department spokesman Matthew Miller pointed out this Tuesday in his daily press conference.
Supporters of such assistance insist that abandoning it would leave the field open to Russia at the gates of Europe and no country would be safe. They also point out that China is watching with interest what is happening in Ukraine and could interpret the withdrawal of US support from kyiv as a preview of what could happen with respect to Taiwan in the event of conflict.
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The conditions imposed by the White House that have been made known are more precise than those made public by the European Commission to open Ukraine’s accession negotiations to the EU. The US Government demands, for example, that the law be reformed in three months so that public officials have to declare their assets. This requirement is in line with the veto signed on September 12 by Zelensky over a law that postponed the obligation for deputies to declare their assets.
The Ukrainian leader has pressed the accelerator to make improvements in the judicial system and in the fight against corruption. The objective is to arrive with homework done at the European Council summit next December to officially begin talks to incorporate Ukraine into the EU.
Despite the rush, there is still a long way to go. According to the organization Transparency International, Ukraine is the 116th country (out of a list of 180) in terms of perception of corruption. Of the seven commitments that kyiv must fulfill to start EU accession negotiations, it would currently fulfill two. Two of those that it is not complying with—despite the improvements recognized by Brussels—are the reforms to reduce corruption rates and also to guarantee the independence of the judiciary.
Corruption scandals are frequent in Ukraine, as are the dismissals imposed by Zelensky linked to alleged bad practices. There are cases that the US demands document points out directly: the White House demands that the Ministry of Defense adapt within one year to the standards of transparency and accountability that apply in NATO. Oleksii Reznikov was fired this September as Defense Minister after two episodes of alleged corruption in the acquisition of food and clothing for troops at prices well above market prices.
Another organization in which Zelensky has dismissed numerous senior officials, due to repeated accusations of corruption, is the State Border Service. The Washington document affects the necessary reforms in this department dependent on the Ministry of the Interior. The Ukrainian president has even proposed a legal reform that equates the crimes of corruption in wartime with those of treason.
The Ukrainian state remains standing thanks to Western financial and military support. Not only that: the country’s economy is growing again this quarter, after GDP collapsed by 30% in 2022, in the first year of the war. Europe and the United States are the main donors of aid to Ukraine. The EU has committed nearly 140 billion euros in assistance – including military assistance – and the US, 70 billion, according to calculations by the Kiev Institute for the Global Economy. There are periodic official visits by delegations from the European Commission, the governments of EU member countries and the United States to supervise the destination of their aid. But not only do these official visits take place, there are also representatives of these governments monitoring from the ground, apart from the Ukrainian authorities, the use of economic and military assistance, as EL PAÍS has been able to verify.
In its letter to the Ukrainian Executive, Washington demands greater controls in the distribution of these funds, especially those for the future reconstruction of the country. The US also demands, like the EU, more plural supervisory bodies for state-owned companies and tougher regulations to end the monopolies of the oligarchs, the great fortunes born after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The donor coordination platform was launched in January this year to support Ukrainian reconstruction. Representatives from kyiv, the US, the EU, the G-7 countries and international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the European Investment Bank participate.
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