Two years after the EuroMaidan Revolution, Ukraine was still struggling against Russian aggression, saw major setbacks in its aspirations to join the European Union and witnessed one of the most outrageous assassination plots in its history.
The year 2016 began with a free-trade agreement between the EU and Ukraine kicking in on Jan. 1. However, the Netherlands later stalled this pact – Dutch voters dismissed an association agreement with Ukraine in a referendum.
Domestically, Ukraine witnessed a change of government: Volodymyr Groysman was appointed prime minister, increasing the power of then-President Petro Poroshenko, whose party the new premier represented.
It wasn’t all good news for Poroshenko. The president’s name appeared in the so-called Panama Papers, a list of leaked documents related to offshore companies registered in Central America.
In May, Ukrainian singer Jamala won the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest with her song “1944” about the deportation of Crimean Tatars from their homeland.
In July, Belarus-born journalist Pavel Sheremet was assassinated in downtown Kyiv after an explosive device was planted under his car.
At the end of the year, the National Bank of Ukraine nationalized PrivatBank, Ukraine’s largest bank in terms of client share.
Dutch referendum
In 2013, then-President Viktor Yanukovych rejected the political and economic association agreement with the EU, sparking the uprising that drove him from office on Feb. 22, 2014. The agreement was eventually signed that year and, in 2016, the Ukraine-EU free trade agreement came into effect.
Since signing the free trade agreement, bilateral trade between Ukraine and the EU has increased by 60%, while the EU became Ukraine’s largest trading partner, with 43% of both Ukraine’s imports and exports now tied to the EU.
However, the political part of the association agreement was obstructed by the Netherlands. In April 2016, 61% of Dutch citizens rejected the agreement with Ukraine in a nationwide referendum.
While the referendum was advisory, the results forced the Netherlands to delay the ratification of the political part of the agreement.
In December, the Netherlands forced the EU to adopt the following addendums to the agreement: no EU candidate status for Ukraine, no guarantees of military aid or security assistance, no freedom to reside or work in the EU, and the agreement can be suspended.
Poroshenko’s control
On April 12, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk submitted his letter of resignation, after the two-month political crisis sparked by the parliament not accepting his earlier attempt to resign in mid-February. Four days later, then-Speaker Groysman, elected on the ticket of Poroshenko’s party, was selected as prime minister.
Days before the change of government, the Panama Papers, a set of leaked documents, revealed beneficiaries of more than 200,000 offshore companies, including many Ukrainian oligarchs and politicians. The documents showed that, during his presidency, Poroshenko registered a company in the British Virgin Islands. Journalists alleged wrongdoing and Poroshenko denied the accusations, saying the company was required in order for him to establish a blind trust for his business holdings.
In May, Poroshenko’s close ally, Yuriy Lutsenko, was appointed prosecutor general, replacing Viktor Shokin. His appointment was marked with controversy when parliament passed an amendment allowing Lutsenko, who lacked a law degree, to assume his post.
Lutsenko and Shokin would figure prominently in the 2019 impeachment of U. S. President Donald J. Trump.
Trump era begins
Trump, elected in November 2016, troubled Ukraine during the campaign in a number of ways. He expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He hired Paul Manafort, ex-President Viktor Yanukovych’s despised political consultant, as his campaign manager. He openly courted the idea of recognizing Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and the Republican Party platform removed a provision in support of providing Ukraine with lethal weapons against Russia.
Sheremet assassinated
Early in the morning of July 20, 2016, the car of journalist Pavel Sheremet exploded as he headed to work. Sheremet had lived in Kyiv since 2011 and was a prominent critic of both the Russian and Belarusian political regimes. A Belarus native, he had been forced out of both countries because of his political views.
In Ukraine, Sheremet worked for Ukrainska Pravda, a news outlet founded by Georgiy Gongadze, a prominent Georgian-Ukrainian journalist murdered back in 2000. Both the murders of Sheremet and Gongadze remain unsolved.
In December, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov called a press conference and announced that the police had arrested five suspects in Sheremet’s assassination. Questions remain about the evidence.
PrivatBank nationalized
After failing a stress test in September 2016, PrivatBank, then owned by billionaire oligarchs Ihor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Boholyubov, was nationalized on Dec. 18.
The National Bank of Ukraine later revealed that almost its entire corporate lending portfolio was made up of non-performing loans, often made to companies connected to its owners. According to a forensic audit by U.S. firm Kroll, there was a $5.5-billion gap in PrivatBank’s balance sheet.
These days, Kolomoisky and Boholyubov are defendants in a U.K. court case launched by PrivatBank’s new management. It alleges at least $3 billion in fraudulent losses to the bank. While the courts have not yet ruled on the alleged fraud, judges have already recognized that “fraud on an epic scale” took place at the bank.
Kolomoisky denies all accusations and is suing the National Bank for allegedly raiding his property.
ProZorro
Starting in April 2016, Ukraine’s government and large state enterprises were obliged to use ProZorro, an electronic system for state procurement meant to make government spending more transparent.
ProZorro started operating in pilot mode in February 2015, but became obligatory only in 2016. Prior to ProZorro, state purchases were conducted through auctions where participants could apply through a non-transparent online form or by sending applications by mail.
Ukraine says it has saved $3.5 billion in public procurement due to ProZorro since 2016.
Jamala wins Eurovision
On May 14, Jamala, a Crimean-Tatar singer, won the Eurovision Song Contest for Ukraine in Stockholm.
Jamala performed her song “1944” about the Soviet deportation of Tatars from Crimea in that year. The song also seemed to reference Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Thanks to Jamala’s victory, in 2017 Ukraine hosted the Eurovision contest for the second time in its history. Prior to that, in 2004, Ukrainian singer Ruslana also won the contest with her song “Wild Dances.
