Editor’s note: The following is the remarks that lawmaker Sergii Leshchenko delivered during a visit to the Reform Club in London. They were edited for length and clarity.
The word “reforms” became the most popular in the political vocabulary of Ukraine over the past four years.
But today Ukraine stands at the crossroads. This is a geopolitical crossroad between Europe and the post-Soviet world.
This is a crossroad of values between democracies and authoritarian regimes. This is a crossroad of generations of political leaders. This is a crossroads between commodity based and post-industrial economies.
During recent years, we have faced a revision of the world order by Vladimir Putin, who called the collapse of the Soviet Union “the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century.”
Ukraine paid a price for Putin to implement his ambitions. We lost the territory of the Crimea and the lives of 10,000 citizens. More than 1.5 million people have become internally displaced persons in their own country.
For the first time since the World War II, Putin violated borders in Europe, challenging not only Ukraine but also Western democracies, questioning the sustainability of international institutions.
This was followed by Putin’s intervention in the elections in the U.S. and France, where he abused democratic institutions – the institutions which are being repressed in his home country.
But while Russia is Ukraine’s external enemy, it also has an internal one – corruption. A successful Ukraine is possible only if we break the connection between dirty money and politics.
Corruption is more dangerous than the tanks in our country’s east. It undermined the defensive capability of Ukraine and the patriotism of its citizens. Corruption is stripping our Western allies of arguments in support of Ukraine. Corruption makes the economy hostage to the personal interests of several families. And corruption destroys transparent competition in politics.
Ukrainian corruption became famous throughout the world when former head of President Donald Trump’s election campaign Paul Manafort was accused of receiving tens of millions of dollars from unclear sources as payment for political advice to Viktor Yanukovych, who fled Ukraine almost four years ago.
Sometimes dirty money finds a quiet shelter in London. Ukrainian oligarchs bought the most expensive apartment in the world near Hyde Park and the abandoned metro station Brompton Road.
Due to the conspiracy of the old and new Ukrainian regimes, 23 million dollars that was frozen by British Serious Fraud Office were unfrozen. There are also some signals that money of the corrupt allies of the current president of Ukraine are being legalized through British investment companies.
Therefore, on behalf of all fighters against corruption in Ukraine, I call for tougher compliance and checks of the origin of the money that ends up in Great Britain, as well as for imposing, if necessary, sanctions against corrupt representatives of both the previous and current Ukrainian government.
Ukraine achieved a lot in the four years after the change of power – more than in the previous 25 years. But it is far too early to speak of the successful ending of the transformation process.
One example of positive changes was the creation of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau to investigate the crimes of high-ranking officials. We started hiring new people on a transparent basis into a new anti-corruption body and this approach worked, in contrast to attempts to reform the corrupt general prosecutor’s office from inside of this institution.
Investigation of the corruption of the head of the fiscal service, members of parliament, the close circle of the current president and prime minister – all of it was impossible a few years ago, but today it is done by the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
That’s why the old elites, headed by President Petro Poroshenko, united their efforts to undermine the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
That is why I call friends of Ukraine to support anti-corruption activists and politicians in Ukraine in order to break the resistance of the old elites.
Ukraine, following the example of the U.K., introduced a system of electronic declarations, which obliges all officials to show their incomes and assets. But even here the old elites are trying to take revenge. They obligated civil society activists to report and carry criminal responsibility along with officials.
This is a recipe from the Putin’s cookbook for supressing civil society. Therefore, my call to friends in the West is to continue to put pressure on the authorities of Ukraine to cancel this shameful rule.
Another achievement of Ukraine in the recent years is the introduction of a transparent procurement system called Prozorro. As a former journalist, I know that public procurement is especially plagued with corruption. But the old elites are trying to destroy the Prozorro system by passing amendments to the laws.
All of this takes place because in Ukraine there has been no change of generations in politics, and because Ukrainian politics remains far more profitable than any Silicon Valley start-up.
Yes, we managed to break the monopoly of oligarchs to make decisions, but their influence is still dominant.
Therefore, since the last year we’ve been campaigning for the adoption of a new electoral law to elect the next parliament on the open party lists system.
We also campaign for the adoption of the law that creates the Anti-Corruption Court.
Ukraine enters the election period – first presidential, then parliamentary.
There is no risk of changing the geopolitical course, because all parties and candidates are in favor of the European choice. But there is a risk that the time of reforms is coming to an end. The agenda is dictated by populism. The opponents of the regime are being defaced, and the law enforcement bodies are consolidated in the hands of the president. This creates a risk of revenge not of pro-Russian forces, but of corrupt politicians.
Ukraine is not unique. A similar situation takes place throughout the region – the oligarchy takes leadership in Moldova and Georgia, whose influence is even higher than in Ukraine. Nevertheless, Ukraine remains the most promising country in the region of Eastern Partnership, as well as a unique market for profitable investment.
Ukraine is located on the border of the European Union. We have transit opportunities and a highly educated labor that is much closer than China. Our requirements are fair privatization, implementation of corporate governance in the public sector, the launch of the land market. It will increase the interest of investors in Ukraine.
The new pro-reform politicians understand that investors will not trust Ukraine for long as there is selective justice, corruption and bribery in the courts.
Today, Ukraine’s democracy is entering a period of turbulence. The visa-free regime with the EU as a goal helped Ukraine to pass necessary laws. Now that the visa-free regime is in the pocket, it will be much harder to push through reforms under resistance from the old political elites that captured our state.
It is more important than ever that the international friends of Ukraine consolidate to defend the institutional achievements. The experience of the past three years has shown that the carrot-and-stick approach is the most effective.
Ukraine is dependent on Britain’s support in international bodies, such as the International Monetary Fund, the G-7, the G-20, NATO, the UN Security Council. I urge you to continue to provide assistance to Ukraine with the condition that the corruption is fought, the independent courts created, and the oligarchs’ influence limited.
We in Ukraine hope that the Prime Minister of Great Britain will visit Ukraine and it will be a symbol of support for pro-reform politicians and vibrant civil society.
It is also important that Britain becomes open for the citizens of Ukraine who with their own eyes can see the best world practices of political, economic, social and cultural life.
In this context, it is important that Britain open its consulate in Ukraine. Now the obtaining of a British visa can become a nightmare because all the processing takes place in Warsaw. And Britain is one of the leaders in refusing visas to Ukrainians.
With the help of the West, Ukraine must finalize its infrastructure of democracy, which President Ronald Reagan talked about in his Westminster speech 35 years ago – “the system of a free press, unions, political parties, universities, which allows people to choose their own way to develop their own culture, to reconcile their own differences through peaceful means.”
Ukrainian politics should become an environment where people compete with ideas, not with money.
To achieve these goals, we in Ukraine are negotiating to unite new pro-reform political forces.
Sometimes we are called “Euro-optimists,” but this term is not very popular in Britain. Therefore, let us be “Euro-realists” who will build Europe inside Ukraine. In Ukraine that for the last several years has been standing on the threshold of democratic values and has been protecting Europe from an aggressive eastern neighbor.
The success of Ukraine will mean success not only of all the citizens of our country but of the idea of democratic transformations in the world.
Sergii Leshchenko is a member of the Ukrainian parliament with the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko and a former journalist.
