Ukraine Corruption Scandal Could Boost Zelensky's F-16 Dream
A corruption scandal in Ukraine revealed this week may have fueled concerns about supplying the country with military aid, but the authorities' reaction to it may yet help secure greater Western assistance, a number of experts have told Newsweek.
Earlier this week, the head of Ukraine's Supreme Court was detained as part of a bribery investigation by anti-corruption authorities. An "undue benefit" of $2.7 million "intended for the Head of the Supreme Court and a lawyer may be part of a broader scheme of corrupt pressure on the courts," the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office said in a statement on Tuesday.
The agencies did not mention any names, but Chief Justice Vsevolod Kniaziev was dismissed from his post this week, multiple outlets reported.
"It is for the first time these law enforcement agencies have exposed such high-level corruption," Tuesday's joint statement said. The court's judges admitted it was a "dark day."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is seen at a press conference in Rome on May 13, 2023. Zelensky has pushed for a crackdown on corruption in Ukraine. Antonio Masiello/Getty Images
A History of Corruption
It was not the first time that corruption in Ukraine has hit the headlines since the outbreak of full-scale war with Russia in February 2022. In January this year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed a slew of officials, including ministers and governors, with several others saying they had resigned from their posts.
"Any internal problems that hinder the state are being cleaned up and will be cleaned up," Zelensky said at the time. "It is necessary for our defense and it helps our rapprochement with European institutions."
Ukraine has a history of corruption far predating the outbreak of all-out war with Russia. In 2021, Ukraine ranked 122 out of 180 countries on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index. The U.S. nonprofit Freedom House gives Ukraine a score of 50 out of 100 in its overview of global freedom status. On the question "Are safeguards against official corruption strong and effective?" it gives the country 1 out of 4. It notes the progress Ukraine has made on the issue, but says: "Corruption remains a serious problem, and the political will to fight it has been inconsistent."
Some voices among Western allies have previously expressed concern over where exactly the different forms of aid sent to Ukraine end up. Billions of dollars have been sent to the country and some Republicans have called for an audit into how it is spent. There have also been concerns from some within the country, including Transparency International Ukraine, about how corruption investigations have been carried out.
Trading Transparency for F-16s
Experts have told Newsweek that, while the latest corruption revelations may further damage the country's reputation among its critics, the transparency of the investigations will ultimately work in Ukraine's favor, becoming key not just for making headway in possible accessions to the EU and NATO, but also in maintaining the flow of military aid.
On his recent European tour taking in Rome, Berlin, Paris and London, Zelensky doubled down on calls for Western-made fighter jets such as F-16s, which would be a significant upgrade from the Soviet-era aircraft Ukraine's air force currently operates.
"We are now working to create a coalition of fighter jets, and partly my visits to European capitals are aimed at this," Zelensky told reporters during a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. "I think we will succeed."
Several of Kyiv's allies have committed to training Ukrainian pilots on aircraft such as F-16s, but no country has yet pledged to provide the advanced fighter jets. Experts note there are several reasons for Western hesitancy in providing the aircraft, but some say Ukraine's open dedication to uncover corruption helps the case for military aid, as well as closer involvement with Western institutions.
Although "slightly shocking," Tuesday's announcement is a clear indicator that Ukraine is serious about clearing obstacles to membership of the EU and NATO, said David Dunn, professor of political science at Birmingham University in the U.K.
"In some ways, you can read this as an entirely positive thing," he told Newsweek.
It is part of Ukraine's push for EU inclusion and to become "firmly embedded in the West," he told Newsweek, adding it is also "in the strategic interests of Europe and the U.S. to help Ukraine on this path."
The latest corruption scandal may feed reservations about providing aid to Ukraine that have already emerged on the right of the U.S. political spectrum, Dunn said, but the commitments to tackling corruption will likely be positively received by the international community more broadly.
Success on the Battlefield
The "exposure of corruption signifies the effectiveness and efficiency of the anti-corruption infrastructure in place," according to Andrii Biletskyi, of Kyiv's Anti-Corruption Research and Education Center. "They have done what they were supposed to do—uncover and tried to bring to justice a high-ranking official—the head of the Supreme Court," he told Newsweek.
Because the case has been publicized through official channels, rather than the media, this shows "there are efforts being made to uncover and address corruption at the highest levels of power," he argued.
"However, it is important to emphasize that the exposure of corruption should not be seen as an indication that corruption is widespread or pervasive in the entire judiciary or government," Biletskyi said.
The news is a "strong signal that Ukraine is serious not only to prevail on the battlefield but to undertake a judicial reform that would bring it closer to the standards of advanced democracies," according to Mikhail Alexseev, a San Diego State University political science professor.
The Ukrainian government's work to root out corruption at the highest levels deserves "more, not less, support from us both for its military and institution-building," Alexseev said, adding recent Ukrainian opinion polls suggest its people are not waging war and dying "to return to the corrupt ways of the past."
"Long-term meaningful reforms will be impossible if Russia retains occupied territories, continues its mass military aggression and wears out Ukraine's defenses and its allies' will to support Ukraine militarily," Alexseev said.
It would be "counter-productive" if Ukrainian efforts to eliminate long-standing corruption were used to halt support for Ukraine, according to David Jordan, co-director of the Freeman Air and Space Institute at King's College London.
This would boost Moscow's chances of success, he said, adding it would be "incredibly short-sighted to base decisions purely on a long-known problem of corruption which dismays the Ukrainian public" and therefore making it "more likely that Putin might succeed," he told Newsweek.
Newsweek has reached out to Ukraine's Presidential Office for comment.
Source: Newsweek
