{"id":877,"date":"2025-07-24T21:09:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T21:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/?p=877"},"modified":"2025-08-01T13:49:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T13:49:58","slug":"zelensky-backpedals-on-anti-corruption-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/24\/zelensky-backpedals-on-anti-corruption-crackdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Zelensky backpedals on anti-corruption crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Ukrainian leader has moved to dilute laws giving him extra powers that were criticized by his Western backers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s Vladimir Zelensky announced a bill on Thursday restoring the independence of the country\u2019s anti-graft agencies, after facing a wave of mass protests at home and a storm of criticism in the West.<\/p>\n

It comes two days after he signed a 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). That followed a law enforcement raid on NABU offices and the arrest of a senior employee of the agency accused of spying for Russia.<\/p>\n

The new legislation contains \u201cfull-fledged guarantees of the independence of anti-corruption agencies,\u201d<\/em> Zelensky claimed, adding that it is also designed to \u201ckeep out\u201d<\/em> any alleged Russian interference. Specifically, the draft law introduces mandatory lie detector tests for employees of NABU, SAPO and other agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe text of the bill was discussed with partners, law enforcement agencies, and representatives of the NABU and SAPO. There were many proposals from our partners to involve European experts \u2013 from the UK, Germany, and the EU,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n

The about-face comes after the country endured a wave of protests against the clampdown on the agencies.\u00a0 Demonstrations were seen across the country, including in the capital Kiev, Odessa and Dnepr \u2013 the country\u2019s third- and fourth-largest cities \u2013 the western city of Lviv, and others.<\/p>\n

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

\n \"European
Von der Leyen warns Zelensky over risk to Ukraine\u2019s EU bid<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Critics have accused Zelensky of authoritarian tendencies and attempting to further tighten his grip on power, and argued that the move rendered the agencies \u201cpurely decorative.\u201d<\/em> The crackdown was condemned by Kiev\u2019s key western backers, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who demanded Zelensky \u201crespect the rule of law\u201d<\/em> and warned it could derail Ukraine\u2019s EU membership bid.<\/p>\n

NABU and SAPO were established following the US-backed 2014 coup in Kiev and promoted as key components of reforms supposed to align Ukraine with Western governance standards and international financial institutions. Critics, however, have branded the agencies an element of external control over Ukraine\u2019s domestic affairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the same time, some Western officials, including US Vice President J.D. Vance, have argued that the decade-long transformation has failed to yield results or weed out entrenched corruption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ukrainian leader has moved to dilute laws giving him extra powers that were criticized by his Western backers Ukraine\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":885,"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\/877"}],"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=877"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":887,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877\/revisions\/887"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}