Concerns about Wartime Corruption in Ukraine
FCPA Blog – There are growing calls in the United States and elsewhere to limit military aid to Ukraine because of the wartime graft problem.
The United States has channeled nearly $77 billion in assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion a year and a half ago, split roughly equally between military aid, direct financial support, and humanitarian aid and other programs. Aid from within Europe has been nearly as great, for a total of more than $120 billion. Richard L. Cassin notes that Ukraine was already ranked the most corrupt country in Europe, and President Zelenskyy suspended anticorruption protocols to deal with the country’s defense, making concerns about corruption all the more appropriate. Zelenskyy—elected on an anti-corruption platform—has taken measures to counter the problem, such as firing defense minister Oleksii Reznikov and military recruitment officers suspected of bribery, but public perception of corruption remains nearly universal within Ukraine.
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