A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
This week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is hoping to correct what many are calling an epic political blunder. Just two weeks ago, he signed a law that gutted the independence of two key anti-corruption agencies and placed their authority under a presidential political appointee. Now, the move prompted the first wartime protests in Ukraine. Thousands streamed into the streets of the capital, Kyiv, to protest. They were arguing that the new law was undemocratic.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting in non-English language).
(CHEERING)
MARTÍNEZ: Now, those protests apparently worked. Thursday, Ukraine's parliament is expected to vote on new legislation from Zelenskyy himself that looks to course-correct. Now, to tell us more about what's at stake here, we've reached out to activist Daria Kelniuk. She joins us from Kyiv and is a director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, an NGO.
Daria, so let's just say the law were to stay as is, and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office are led by a presidential political appointee. How would that make your job harder?
DARIA KELNIUK: Well, it nulls all my activities done for the last 10 years because we've spanned a decade in order to cut political influence over independent anti-corruption bodies. That is actually what was the previous Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine about in 2013, 2014. At that time, pro-Russian, autocratic President Yanukovych was trying to control all law enforcement and judiciary and used his prosecutor general for that. So we treat this attempt of Zelenskyy as an attempt to come back in time, which is unacceptable.
MARTÍNEZ: What do you think made Zelenskyy kind of say, OK, I need to kind of fix this?
KELNIUK: There were people on the streets which immediately, organically self-organized same night the law was voted in the parliament. And mainly (ph), these were extremely young people. These are teenagers, early 20s. That was something that I think Zelenskyy didn't expect. These are new generation of Ukrainians who don't remember living in the country where anti-corruption system is not functioning. They live in completely different Ukraine, which must be and will be part of the EU, and they went on the street to defend this future.
MARTÍNEZ: Why do you think anti-corruption is so important to young Ukrainians?
KELNIUK: It's about dignity. It's about justice. It's in Ukrainian blood. People are in the front lines fighting against Russian aggression, not for building Belarus or small Russia in Ukraine. No, we are against that.
MARTÍNEZ: When it comes to the new legislation, what have you seen in it that would guarantee the agency's independence here?
KELNIUK: The prosecutor general will not have any more powers to give orders to NABU and SAPO. So this is the key thing which will be repaired.
MARTÍNEZ: But what would happen, say, 10 years from now, 15 years from now for another president that maybe wants to roll back the independence of the agency if they wanted to? Is there anything that insures or guards against that?
KELNIUK: He will not be a president anymore. If in two or three hours people can self-organize in order to protect the institutions, I doubt that there will be any more situations when the president of Ukraine could attack institutions and maintain the president.
MARTÍNEZ: You know, since Russia's full-scale invasion, the United States has sent Ukraine a hundred and thirty-two billion dollars in financial, humanitarian and military assistance to stave off Russia. Why is this issue - anti-corruption in Ukraine - why is that in the interests of American taxpayers?
KELNIUK: We are very respectful of every dollar of American taxpayers' money sent to Ukraine. So it is critical all this money, both Ukrainian and foreign taxpayers' money, is being spent effectively because in Ukraine, we see that corruption can kill, literally. Misspending of Ukrainian taxpayers' money means that somebody on the front line is not receiving equipment, which is critical for them to survive and to save other people. This is as simple as it (ph).
MARTÍNEZ: That's Daria Kelniuk. She's with the Anti-Corruption Action Center in Kyiv. Daria, thank you.
KELNIUK: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
