In the nearly 30 years that have elapsed since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, I doubt whether a single day has gone by without some Western diplomat, somewhere in the post-Soviet space, talking about the need for the rule of law. The U.S.S.R. was a totalitarian state in which judges and prosecutors were controlled by the ruling party. The result was injustice, oppression and corruption. Since the former Soviet republics gained independence, Europeans and Americans, presidents and prime ministers, International Monetary Fund envoys and advisers of all kinds have sought to persuade the nations of the region to follow a different path and to adopt, instead, an independent judiciary and apolitical prosecutors. By doing so, they hoped to promote democracy, prosperity and justice in a region that has known precious little of all three.
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Anne Applebaum: Why would anyone believe Americans now?
U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky looks on during a meeting in New York on Sept. 25, 2019, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
