U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden's message to Ukraine remains consistent: The United States will continue to support, but Ukraine's leaders need to do more to fight corruption and create a strong judicial system.
Biden is scheduled speak before the Ukrainian parliament at 11 a.m. on Dec. 8.
After meeting Biden upon arrival at Kyiv Boryspil International Airport late on Dec. 6, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that Biden stressed that faster reforms were essential to national development, “especially of the justice system.”
Later, during a joint public statement with President Petro Poroshenko, Biden said he saw signs of progress but that more needs to be done with overhauling the judicial system, which is widely distrusted among Ukrainians as corrupt, politically subservient and ineffective.
He pledged that the U.S. “would stand by your side as you strengthen the rule of law … from top to bottom,” pointing to the new patrol police force as something tangible.
Biden also said that “there is no democracy in the world without strong civil society.” He met with civil society leaders, members of parliament and some government officials earlier in the day. Some participants described the talks as an intensive discussion over Ukraine’s continuing corruption in high places.
Poroshenko, in turn, thanked Biden for U.S. support including training assistance to the new police force.
Timothy Ash, an analyst for Nomura International, said “the US is concerned at backsliding from the Poroshenko administration – particularly over the issue of the rule of law.”
According to an anonymous Washington top official cited by Western news services, Biden was expected to ask Poroshenko to have Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin replaced. Seen as a key obstacle to the pursuit of justice, the powerful Shokin is criticized for stalling high-level cases against former officials.
Poroshenko defended his record, saying that the recent establishment of new anti-corruption bodies showed that the nation is on the right track.
Pledging $190 million in fresh financial U.S. aid to Ukraine, Biden hammered the anti-graft message home, saying the U.S. money is earmarked for the fight against corruption, not for defense or other needs. The U.S. has provided a total of $660 million plus $2 billion in loan guarantees since last year, with a third $1 billion possible.
Political analyst Vyacheslav Potapenko said that a number of large state-owned enterprises depended on corrupt deals for their survival.
Kyiv Post staff writer Johannes Wamberg Andersen can be reached at [email protected]
