Adam Zivo: Ukrainian protests quash Zelenskyy's contentious power grab

National Post

6 days ago

Article content
In a video address that evening, Zelenskyy claimed that SAPO and NABU had been infiltrated by 'Russian influence' and that important corruption cases were being left to languish, which is why he wanted greater oversight. Yet most of Ukraine's civil society actors — and seemingly the majority of the general public — did not believe him.
Article content
As Tuesday night wore on, the civil unrest in Kyiv swelled. Thousands gathered in front of the President's Office, despite the ongoing risk of Russian missiles and drone strikes, to voice their displeasure, staying up late in violation of the nightly military curfew. Smaller protests broke out concurrently in other major cities — such as Liviv, Kharkiv and Odesa — forming the largest wave of public demonstrations seen in Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion.
Article content
Domestic critics argued that Zelenskyy had betrayed the values of the Euromaidan revolution, and compared his behaviour with that of former president Viktor Yanukovych, whose corruption and autocratic impulses had endangered Ukraine's EU integration in the early 2010s. Similarly, European officials warned that hollowing out NABU and SAPO could cost Ukraine its financial assistance and render EU membership impossible.
Article content
Some of the Ukrainians I spoke with in the past few days felt confused and betrayed. After all, Zelenskyy was elected on an anti-corruption platform in 2019 and, for the first few years of his presidency, was widely seen as effective in this respect. When Ukraine's constitutional court issued a ruling in late 2020 that nullified most of the country's anti-corruption programs, for example, the then-rookie president pushed back and, instigating a constitutional crisis, had them reinstated at great political risk.
Article content
Others were less surprised, though, saying that Zelenskyy's behaviour has recently grown more questionable. Many of Ukraine's anti-corruption activists, for example, seem to believe that last week's reforms were retribution for NABU's prosecution of Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Chernyshov, a close ally and personal friend of Zelenskyy's, who was named as a suspect last month in a major corruption scheme involving the construction sector.
Article content
Article content
Whatever Zelenskyy's motives ultimately were, the withering public backlash evidently spooked him. Within two days, he announced that he had 'heard what people are saying on social networks, to each other, on the streets,' and submitted a draft bill to preserve NABU and SAPO's independence while mandating regular polygraph tests for agency employees with Russian relatives. 'It's very important that society speaks. I respect the opinion of society. I believe it is absolutely normal to react when people don't want something or when they dislike something,' he said at a media briefing in Kyiv on Friday.
Article content
While some pro-Russian commentators — such as far-right U.S. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene — have exploited this week's chaos to smear Ukraine, most citizens here have taken a more optimistic view. Many have said that the protests showcased the strength of the country's democratic values and civil society actors; the spirit of the Euromaidan revolution has evidently not been forgotten. Some also pointed out that such civil disobedience is simply not possible in autocratic countries, such as Russia.
Article content