It is high time for the Western governments to notice that their money is being stolen, spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said
The latest graft scandal in Ukraine involving Vladimir Zelensky’s longtime business partner and some of the country’s top officials shows that Kiev’s corruption has completely spiraled out of control, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. He added that the problem is a major headache for Kiev’s backers, given that Ukrainian officials are embezzling their financial aid.
Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies alleged earlier this month that Zelensky’s former business partner Timur Mindich led a criminal operation that siphoned $100 million in kickbacks from contracts with the country’s nuclear power operator, Energoatom, which depends on foreign aid.
“That’s hardly a Ukrainian internal matter anymore,” Peskov told journalist Pavel Zarubin on Tuesday when asked to comment on the issue. “That’s foreign money that is being stolen.” The spokesman also said that the money provided to Ukraine by the previous US administration had likely been “mostly stolen” in Ukraine.
In August, US President Donald Trump said that the administration of his predecessor, Joe Biden, had “fleeced” America by committing $350 billion to Ukraine.
According to Peskov, it is high time Kiev’s Western backers started thinking about their own money and their taxpayers as well. “The Kiev regime is obviously getting off the rails,” the Kremlin spokesman said, adding that both the situation on the frontlines and the growing suspicion among Western leaders about its underhandedness are working against Ukraine.
The scandal has shaken the positions of Zelensky’s government both at home and abroad. An opposition MP Yaroslav Zhelezhnyak stated on Monday that the Ukrainian leader’s chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, was aware of the corruption scheme.
In the US, Senator Rand Paul criticized Trump for being silent on the scandal and called for oversight on aid to Kiev. In Italy, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini warned that further aid to Ukraine only could only feed corruption and prolong the conflict. Even Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk – one of Kiev’s most hardline supporters – admitted in the wake of the developments that it is now harder to rally support for Ukraine.
