Opinion: Zelenskyy is the problem, not his friends

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired leading security officials in the middle of a war. But the president's public rebuke only obscures the real problem: lack of reform, says Eugen Theise.

MS ZELENSKA DISTRACTED THE

USA WITH HER APPERANCE THERE

The firings of the SBO boss (left) and the prosecutor general (right) has cast 

Zelenskyy in an unflattering light

The firing of SBU intelligence services boss Ivan Bakanov and Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova is akin to a political earthquake in Ukraine. During a war, one would expect maximum solidarity from a government. Such dismissals register as a very public rejection of one's closest confidants.

In a video address on Sunday, the Ukrainian president said he was suspending both heads. His only voiced criticism was that too many officials of both agencies in the south and east of Ukraine had deserted after their regions had been occupied by Russian forces.

Maybe war has forced Volodymyr Zelenskyy to change his approach to politics after surrounding himself mainly with friends and former business partners? Hardly. His actions only look decisive on the surface.

DW author Eugen Theise is a native of Ukraine

At first, there was only talk of suspension, not firing. The office of the president later announced that it wanted to investigate treason in both cases. Then the situation suddenly snowballed: On Tuesday, parliament dismissed both Bakanov and Venediktova at Zelenskyy's behest. There was no longer any talk of the investigations announced the day before.

This strange personnel gamble gives the impression that the former comedian and actor — who, after the Russian invasion of his country, was transformed into the courageous leader of a brave nation before the eyes of the world — has suddenly dwarfed himself. At a time, moreover, when he should have stepped up and taken responsibility for the mistakes of his confidants.

A general's treason

Known cases of treason and desertion in the ranks of intelligences services occurred within the first weeks of the war. But the president needed months to find an effective way to publicly address the situation. Perhaps the most sensational example is the case of General Andriy Naumov of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), who fled Ukraine on February 23, one day before the Russian invasion.

Naumov was Bakanov's right hand at the SBU. In just a few short months, Naumov's patron had promoted him to intelligence services general. As director of Ukraine's domestic security headquarters, it would have been his task to sniff out corruption or moles. Naumov's flight was reason enough to immediately fire Bakanov.

The farce surrounding the firing of Zelenskyy's closest confidants comes at the worst possible time

Zelenskyy's obfuscation

Bakanov is not really the problem though, Zelenskyy — who appointed him head of the SBU — is the problem. But Bakanov happens to be Zelenskyy's best friend. The two have known each other since kindergarten. They studied at university together and later became show business partners. The only reason for Bakanov's appointment is Zelenskyy's thirst for power and the desire to control the SBU by appointing a close friend to run it. Rather than admitting that the appointment was a mistake, the president instead tried to create a diversion by announcing Bakanov's suspension.

The fact of the matter is that both men bear responsibility for not cleaning house at SBU — which never enjoyed a good reputation in Ukraine — before the Russian invasion. For the fact that corruption, and now treason, are still the order of the day. The back-and-forth on this issue doesn't instill much confidence that the president has reflected upon his own mistakes. It was never a good idea to appoint someone to a key position in the security apparatus, simply because he had known him all his life.

Enough foot-dragging on reforms

There is a lot to suggest that the firings were carried out with the consent of Western partners. Zelenskyy not only criticized Bakanov and Venediktova in his video address, but also called for the quick appointment of an anti-corruption prosecutor.     

G7 ambassadors have repeatedly criticized the fact that Ukraine's election oversight commission has done nothing for two years. So far, the president has largely ignored Western demands for action. Just as he has ignored criticism over Kyiv's lack of political will when it comes to finally wrapping up the glacial reform of Ukraine's bloated and scandal-ridden intelligence services.

But now, Zelenskyy can no longer ignore criticism from his Western partners, as he was able to do before the war. Without guns and money from the EU and the US, Ukraine would have gone broke long ago and would scarcely be able to resist Russia's onslaught. The reforms that are so essential for the strengthening of the Ukrainian state will now have to be implemented in the middle of a war. For this, the most experienced professionals are crucial, and not the president's kindergarten pals.

This commentary was translated from German by Jon Shelton    

Ukraine graft concerns resurface as

Russia war goes on

By MATTHEW LEE and NOMAAN MERCHANT

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office on July 8, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, attends a meeting with military officials during his visit the war-hit Dnipropetrovsk region. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s dismissal of senior officials is casting an inconvenient light on an issue that the Biden administration has largely ignored since the outbreak of war with Russia: Ukraine’s history of rampant corruption and shaky governance.

As it presses ahead with providing tens of billions of dollars in military, economic and direct financial support aid to Ukraine and encourages its allies to do the same, the Biden administration is now once again grappling with longstanding worries about Ukraine’s suitability as a recipient of massive infusions of American aid.

Those issues, which date back decades and were not an insignificant part of former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment, had been largely pushed to the back burner in the immediate run-up to Russia’s invasion and during the first months of the conflict as the U.S. and its partners rallied to Ukraine’s defense.

But Zelenskyy’s weekend firings of his top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials have resurfaced those concerns and may have inadvertently given fresh attention to allegations of high-level corruption in Kyiv made by one outspoken U.S. lawmaker.

It’s a delicate issue for the Biden administration. With billions in aid flowing to Ukraine, the White House continues to make the case for supporting Zelenskyy’s government to an American public increasingly focused on domestic issues like high gas prices and inflation. High-profile supporters of Ukraine in both parties also want to avoid a backlash that could make it more difficult to pass future aid packages.

U.S. officials are quick to say that Zelenskyy is well within his right to appoint whomever he wants to senior positions, including the prosecutor general, and remove anyone who he sees as collaborating with Russia.

Yet even as Russian troops were massing near the Ukrainian border last fall, the Biden administration was pushing Zelenskyy to do more to act on corruption — a perennial U.S. demand going back to Ukraine’s early days of independence.

“In all of our relationships, and including in this relationship, we invest not in personalities; we invest in institutions, and, of course, President Zelenskyy has spoken to his rationale for making these personnel shifts,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Monday.

Price declined to comment further on Zelenskyy’s reasoning for the dismissals or address the specifics but said there was no question that Russia has been trying to interfere in Ukraine.

“Moscow has long sought to subvert, to destabilize the Ukrainian government,” Price said. “Ever since Ukraine chose the path of democracy and a Western orientation this has been something that Moscow has sought to subvert.”

Still, in October and then again in December 2021, as the U.S. and others were warning of the increasing potential for a Russian invasion, the Biden administration was calling out Zelenskyy’s government for inaction on corruption that had little or nothing to do with Russia.

“The EU and the US are greatly disappointed by unexplained and unjustifiable delays in the selection of the Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Office, a crucial body in the fight against high-level corruption,” the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said on Oct. 9.

“We urge the selection commission to resume its work without further delays. Failure to move forward in the selection process undermines the work of anti-corruption agencies, established by Ukraine and its international partners,” it said. That special prosecutor was finally chosen in late December but was never actually appointed to the position. Although there are indications the appointment will happen soon, the dismissal of the prosecutor general could complicate the matter.

The administration and high-profile lawmakers have avoided public criticism of Ukraine since Russia invaded in February. The U.S. has ramped up the weapons and intelligence it’s providing to Ukraine despite early concerns about Russia’s penetration of the Ukrainian government and existing concerns about corruption.

A Ukrainian-born congresswoman who came to prominence early in the war recently broke that unofficial silence.

Rep. Victoria Spartz, a first-term Republican from Indiana, has made half a dozen visits to Ukraine since the war began. And she was invited to the White House in May and received a pen used by President Joe Biden to sign an aid package for Ukraine even after she angrily criticized Biden for not doing more to help.

But in recent weeks, Spartz has accused Zelenskyy of “playing politics” and alleged his top aide Andriy Yermak had sabotaged Ukraine’s defense against Russia.

She’s also repeatedly called on Ukraine to name the anti-corruption prosecutor, blaming Yermak for the delay.

Ukrainian officials have hit back. A statement from Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry accused Spartz of spreading “Russian propaganda” and warned her to “stop trying to earn extra political capital on baseless speculation.”

U.S. officials gave Spartz a two-hour classified briefing on Friday in hopes of addressing her concerns and encouraging her to limit her public criticism. She declined to discuss the briefing afterward but told The Associated Press that “healthy dialogue and deliberation is good for Congress.”

“We’re not here to please people,” she said. “It’s good to deliberate.”

Hours later, Spartz gave a Ukrainian-language interview broadcast on YouTube in which she called again for the appointment of an independent prosecutor.

“This issue should be resolved as soon as possible,” she said in the interview. “This is a huge problem for the West, so I think your president should address this issue soon.”

Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat who sits on the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees, said he had seen no evidence to support allegations that Zelenskyy’s inner circle was trying to help Russia. But as the war continues, part of the long-term American strategy in Ukraine will have to include addressing waste and mismanagement of resources, he said.

“There is no war in the history of the world that is immune from corruption and people trying to take advantage of it,” Crow said. “If there are concerns raised, we will address them.”

Igor Novikov, a Kyiv-based former adviser to Zelenskyy, called many of Spartz’s claims a mix of “hearsay and urban legends and myths.” Allegations against Yermak in particular have circulated for years going back to his interactions with Trump allies who sought derogatory information against Biden’s son Hunter.

“Given that we’re in a state of war, we need to give President Zelenskyy and his team the benefit of the doubt,” Novikov said. “Until we win this war, we have to trust the president who stayed and fought with the people.”