Something’s Rotten in the State of Ukraine

Two years have passed since a popular uprising in Kiev toppled a Russia-backed regime in Ukraine. The glory of that people power moment has faded, and Western supporters are losing patience with the government as corruption hampers efforts to jump-start the economy. The gross domestic product of the war-plagued country contracted 10.5 percent in 2015. Inflation reached 43 percent. On Feb. 10, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde expressed concern “about Ukraine’s slow progress in improving governance and fighting corruption.” She said it would be hard to keep financing Ukraine in the absence of real change.

On Feb. 3, 10 Western ambassadors also called on Ukrainian leaders to “set aside their parochial differences” and crack down on corruption. The statement was prompted by the resignation of reformist Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius, a Lithuanian who assumed Ukrainian citizenship to join the government in 2014. He said “actions aimed at paralyzing reforms” triggered his resignation. He pointed a finger at Ihor Kononenko, the senior legislator of President Petro Poroshenko’s party in Parliament and Poroshenko’s former business partner. Kononenko had engineered the appointment of a close associate to the post of Abromavicius’s deputy without telling the minister, according to text messages released by Abromavicius.