Zelenskyy can't risk cracks in trust as war still rages

The National

4 days ago

His Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin are the most obvious, having quite literally set out to target Zelenskyy in the immediate wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
More recently, it has been the turn of US president Donald Trump and his Maga cohorts, with Trump earlier this year calling Zelenskyy a 'dictator', before this month making a now familiar political pivot and sending more weapons to Ukraine.
It's no secret that not everyone in Ukraine is a fan of Zelenskyy. But visit the country as I have numerous times since the start of the war and you will rarely hear open criticism of the Ukrainian president, who without doubt has proved the most dogged and seemingly unflappable wartime leader.
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It's not that ordinary Ukrainians are afraid to criticise him as Zelenskyy's detractors have suggested. For if there's one thing Ukrainians certainly cannot be accused of, it's fear in the face of any authoritarianism, as their protests during the 2013-14 EuroMaidan Revolution and subsequent standing up to Russia's invasion have shown.
To put this another way, most Ukrainians know exactly who poses the real threat to their country right now.
Tackling that threat head-on by stopping Putin's advancing hordes and Ukraine from being obliterated by missile and drone strikes has been the main preoccupation of the country's citizens.
Earlier this week though, Zelenskyy put that public support to the test like never before, when he took the very controversial step of moving to take control of Ukraine's anti-corruption bodies – the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (Nabu) and Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (Sapo).
No sooner had parliament passed the contentious draft bill No 12414, than Zelenskyy signed it into law, rejecting calls for him to use his presidential veto. To say that the move surprised and dismayed some would be an understatement.
For the first time since 2022, some Ukrainians took to the streets in cities like Kyiv, Lviv and Dnipro, while civil society activists and some of Ukraine's European partners and allies expressed their deep concern.
Writing on social media even before Zelenskyy had signed off on the bill, the European Union (EU) enlargement commissioner, Marta Kos, said it would have a negative impact on Ukraine's membership negotiations. 'Independent bodies like Nabu and Sapo are essential for Ukraine's EU path,' she wrote.
For a long time now, corruption and judicial independence have been two of Brussels' biggest concerns over Ukraine's candidacy to join the EU, which is the country's biggest financial supporter.
Under the new law, the prosecutor general, Ruslan Kravchenko, who is seen by many as a Zelenskyy loyalist, will now oversee anti-corruption investigations making it easier, say critics, for the government to control which cases are pursued. They warn too that the move marks a complete U-turn on the system that was set up with the exact purpose of being independent and will make political interference that much easier.
In its editorial, the Kyiv Independent newspaper pulled no punches in its criticism, running the headline: 'Zelenskyy just betrayed Ukraine's democracy – and everyone fighting for it.'
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The newspaper also asked the important question as to why do it now, before in part answering the same question saying that 'anti-corruption agencies have been a nuisance for the political elite – as they should be'.
The newspaper also reminded readers that Ukraine's anti-corruption infrastructure was set up in the years following the EuroMaidan Revolution.
Out of that turmoil it was seen as one of the positives of the movement that overthrew the corrupt pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Moscow by helicopter in 2014 after months of street protests.
One Ukrainian government official according to The Economist magazine even suggested that the speed and scale of the latest bill passing into law was reminiscent of the infamous protest-banning laws of January 16, 2014, that were one of the last acts of the Yanukovych government.
There's no question that the optics of Zelenskyy's move make for a precarious moment.
To start with, it has happened at the worst possible time given the recent shift in US policy in Ukraine's favour.
Then there is the inescapable fact that it makes a total gift of a critical narrative to bad faith actors – and we're not just talking about Moscow here.
It was interesting to note that the American Republican far-right congresswoman, conspiracy theorist and all-round loose cannon, Marjorie Taylor Greene, went on Twitter/X claiming that footage of the protest in Ukraine's cities were in fact about Zelenskyy 'refusing to make a peace deal' or 'ending the war.'
Total lie as it was, that's not the kind of mischief-making message Zelenskyy needs at this or any other moment coming out of Washington's corridors of power – albeit from such a well-known Maga mouthpiece.
Not only were Greene's claims a total fabrication, they fly in the face of evidence that following Russia's recent escalation of air strikes, Ukrainian resolve to resist has also intensified.
For his part, Zelenskyy claims that his move to weaken the anti-corruption watchdogs was intended to purge Russian interference, infiltrators and spies.
'The anti-corruption infrastructure will operate. But only without Russian influences – everything must be cleansed of that,' Zelenskyy insisted.
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Some agree with Zelenskyy in that given the absence of an audit in Nabu, it made it vulnerable to penetration by Russian intelligence. Among those who share such a view is Ukrainian political scientist Taras Zahorodnii.
'This bill is a step towards finally taking control of a structure that for some reason began to turn into a branch of the FSB,' Zahorodnii told the Ukrainian news agency UNN, referring to the Russian security service.
There's no doubt that in wartime, leaders often have to make decisions that put the country's security first, even at the expense of some civil liberties. History is replete with examples. But for now, Zelenskyy's decision appears to be widely regarded as not one of his better ones.
Internal divisions in Ukraine of course would suit Putin and the Kremlin to a tee.
For exactly that reason the words of Ukraine's very canny, head of military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov have a particular resonance at this dangerous moment.
'Ukrainian history has taught us that a nation loses if it is torn apart by internal contradictions,' noted Budanov in the wake of the past few days events.
He's right, but whether this will actually wash with many Ukrainians only the coming days will tell.