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Leaked US strategy document shows Biden admin worried about corruption in Ukraine: Report
The Biden Administration also wants Ukraine to privatise banks and encourage foreign investors.
The support for the Ukraine-Russia war in America appears to have dulled in recent months in the US. While there’s a portion of Republicans, led most vociferously by Vivek Ramaswamy, that believes that US should stop sending monies to continue the war against Russia, it would appear that even the current administration is flustered by the corruption in Ukraine.
According to a report in POLITICO, Biden administration officials are more worried about corruption in Ukraine than they are willing to admit publicly. A “sensitive but unclassified” US strategy document lays down the steps Washington is taking to help Kyiv but also notes that corruption could case Western allies to abandon Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
The abridged version of document was posted on the State Department’s website a month ago and the confidential version of the “Integrated Country Strategy” is three times as long and contains more details about Uncle Sam’s objectives in Ukraine. These include privatising banks, getting more schools to teach English, and encouraging the military to adopt NATO protocols. A lot of the goals also include efforts to reduce corruption in the country.
The POLITICO report notes that the quiet release was part of a plan not to raise alarms about the document. The tougher language can only be found in the confidential version of the document.
The administration wants Ukraine to cut graft, but won’t say so vocally, hoping not to embolden opponents of US aid to Ukraine. Also, any perception of less American interest would understandably trickle down to most European countries.
Corruption in Ukraine has always bothered the Biden administration, but the concerns were put on the backburner after Russia’s February 2022 invasion, a move Biden called a “real-life battle of democracy against autocracy”.
However, Biden aides are being more vocal now. NSA Jake Sullivan met a delegation from Ukrainian anti-corruption institutions. A US official told POLITICO that the Biden administration has talked to Ukrainian leaders that any future economic aid will be condition on “reforms to tackle corruption” which ought to make Ukraine a more “attractive place for private investment”. However, such conditions aren’t considered for military aid, according to an official.
Interestingly, Zelensky has fired several defence officials over alleged graft, which he’d hope is a message to the US and Europe that Ukraine is listening to the feedback.
Among other asks are calls for Ukraine’s financial systems to “increase lending to encourage business expansion” and to reduce the state’s role in the banking sector.
Washington is also offering technical and other aid to Ukraine’s education ministry to improve the teaching of English and hopes offering English lessons would help reintegrate Ukrainians freed from Russian occupation. The US is also worried about the role of the elite in Ukraine’s economy. The public part of the strategy declares: “Deoligarchization, particularly of the energy and mining sectors, is a core tenet to building back a better Ukraine.”
