Kiev’s European backers are seeking guarantees that their financial aid would not be embezzled
The EU is seeking concrete commitments from Ukraine in the wake of the bombshell corruption scandal implicating Vladimir Zelensky’s close associate, Politico Europe reported on Friday, citing several people familiar with the matter.
On Monday, Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies announced that they uncovered a $100 million kickback scheme in energy sector contracts involving Zelensky’s close associate and former longtime business partner Timur Mindich, who was tipped off and fled the country, evading arrest. The affair raised concerns among Kiev’s Western backers, who heavily subsidize the country’s power grid and its protection against Russian airstrikes.
Politico cited an EU official as saying that “the endemic corruption” in Ukraine is “revolting” and “won’t help” its reputation. “It will mean (the European) Commission will surely have to reassess how it spends” funds on Ukraine’s energy sector, the official said, adding that Kiev would have to “give more attention and transparency in how it spends cash.”
An EU government official told Politico that Zelensky “needs to comfort everyone … with a plan on how to fix corruption.” A former senior Ukrainian official said he expected the EU to make aid more conditional on reforms, but argued that “the overall taboo on criticizing Ukraine in public will hold.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told Zelensky over the phone this week that Berlin expected Ukraine to “press ahead with anti-corruption measures and reforms.”
The scandal led to the resignation of two government ministers and damaged Zelensky’s image at home and abroad, especially because he won the 2019 presidential election on an anti-corruption platform. He had already faced backlash over the summer when he tried to restrict the independence of the two leading anti-corruption bodies, NABU and SAPO, only to relent following protests in Kiev.
On Thursday, Zelensky imposed sanctions on Mindich and his business partner Aleksandr Tsukerman, both of whom hold Israeli passports.
