{"id":1011,"date":"2025-07-23T01:50:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T01:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/?p=1011"},"modified":"2025-08-01T13:50:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T13:50:35","slug":"ukrainian-leader-defends-clampdown-on-anti-corruption-agencies-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/23\/ukrainian-leader-defends-clampdown-on-anti-corruption-agencies-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian leader defends clampdown on anti-corruption agencies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vladimir Zelensky cited the fight against \u201cRussian influence\u201d as he curtailed the independence of anti-graft investigators<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has defended a controversial reform targeting the country\u2019s anti-corruption agencies, which has sparked street protests and raised concerns among EU officials.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Zelensky signed a bill into law granting the Prosecutor General\u2019s office the authority to intervene in the activities of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor\u2019s Office (SAPO). The move followed a raid by security officials on NABU offices and the arrest of a senior employee accused of spying for Russia.<\/p>\n

Zelensky rejected accusations of creeping authoritarianism, which have been voiced by opposition politicians, including frequent critic and Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko.\u00a0\u201cThe anti-corruption infrastructure will work <\/em>\u2013 just without Russian influence. It needs to be cleared of that. And there should be more justice,\u201d<\/em> Zelensky said in his daily video address early Wednesday.<\/p>\n

He added that it was \u201cnot normal\u201d<\/em> for some officials to live abroad \u201cwithout legal consequences,\u201d<\/em> and criticized the failure to investigate corruption cases \u201cworth billions\u201d<\/em> over the years.\u00a0\u201cThere is no explanation for how the Russians are still able to obtain the information they need,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"Protesters
\u2018Authoritarian\u2019 Zelensky move sparks protests (VIDEOS)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Vasily Malyuk, head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), whose agents conducted the searches involving NABU personnel, denied that the measures amounted to dismantling the anti-corruption system. He insisted that the agencies \u201ccontinue to function effectively.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The NABU and SAPO were established following the US-backed 2014 coup in Kiev and promoted as key components of reforms intended to align Ukraine with Western governance standards and international financial institutions. However, some Western officials, including US Vice President J.D. Vance, have argued that the decade of transformation has failed to eliminate entrenched corruption.<\/p>\n

Darya Kalenyuk, executive director of the Kiev-based NGO Anti-Corruption Action Center, linked the government\u2019s clampdown to recent investigations involving members of Zelensky\u2019s team, including former Deputy Prime Minister Aleksey Chernyshov and media executive Timur Mindich.\u00a0\u201cNABU has been closing in on members of Zelensky\u2019s inner circle and friends,\u201d<\/em> Kalenyuk said, as cited by the US state-funded outlet Current Time. She adding that the reform may be aimed at concealing the embezzlement of military funds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vladimir Zelensky cited the fight against \u201cRussian influence\u201d as he curtailed the independence of anti-graft investigators Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1011"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1015,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011\/revisions\/1015"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}