Ukraine continues to improve its standing in Transparency International's Corruption Index, rising to a score of 36, the 11th straight year it has gone up. The watchdog said in its annual report, released on January 30, that despite having to fight a war against invading Russian troops, the country has made progress on judicial reforms as part of its push to join the EU. Russia's score was 26, weakening due to the government's “pervasive control of public institutions [that] facilitates the widespread abuse of power without accountability," the report said. Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan were in the bottom 20 of the 180 countries surveyed. Russia placed 141st.
