The assault by paid-for protests on the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) this week is more than worrying. It highlights the fact that Ukraine is a state that has been captured by the oligarchs.
This is a problem across the whole region. Ukraine’s political plurality, the people’s propensity to protest and the population’s power to oust presidents – Ukraine has done it twice now – is not sufficient to curb the greed and raw power of the oligarchs.
