Now here's a development: Ihor Kononenko, who was the man at the center of the kerfuffle surrounding the resignation of Ukrainian Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius this week, says he is stepping aside as deputy chairman of President Petro Poroshenko's parliamentary bloc -- at least for now.
As the last tweet we embedded suggests, Kyiv Post editor Brian Bonner's hard-hitting assessment of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's performance on tackling corruption is generating a bit of heat on social media. Here's a taster of what he has to say:
Poroshenko promised to change the corrupt and useless criminal justice system. He did not.
Instead, he and Yatsenyuk have proven skillful in obstructing changes – especially when their allies attempted to jeopardize the independence of new anti-corruption bodies.
The obstructionism ensures that corruption – old and new – will remain unpunished.
I have interviewed each of these three ministers who resigned – Agriculture Minister Oleksiy Pavlenko, Infrastructure Minister Andriy Pyvovarsky and Abromavicius. Each of them sent criminal cases against Yanukovych-era predecessors to the prosecutor’s office, only to have them sink into a black hole. Each of them complained about the bureaucracy and about their inability to fire corrupt managers of state-owned enterprises. While they didn’t complain about Poroshenko or Yatsenyuk during the interviews I had with them, it seemed clear to me that they weren’t getting the backing they needed.
Ukraine’s top political leaders will simply not give up their power to decide who goes to jail and who doesn’t and leave these issues to judges, prosecutors, and police – or better yet, citizen juries.
So Poroshenko keeps a useless prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, who leads 15,000 useless prosecutors.
Poroshenko keeps 9,000 judges, most of whom are useless and corrupt as well.
Yatsenyuk keeps a useless interior minister, Arsen Avakov.
And meanwhile, allegations of corruption – yes, all denied – swirl around Shokin, Avakov and too many police, prosecutors and judges to name.
Bottom line: Law enforcement has delivered nothing but injustice two years after the EuroMaidan Revolution. And as long as they get to call the shots, that’s the way Poroshenko and Yatensyuk want it.
Read the entire article here
A tweet from the spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry:
Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with this item from RFE/Rl's news desk on more fallout from the Ukrainian economy minister's resignation this week:
IMF Chief 'Concerned' About Corruption Charges In Ukraine
International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde said she is concerned about the sudden resignation this week of Ukraine's reformist economy minister, citing government corruption.
"I would like to pay tribute to his efforts. His recently announced resignation is of concern," Lagarde said on February 4 when questioned about the resignation of Aivaras Abromavicius to protest alleged influence-peddling and graft by a top ally of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, among others.
"If the allegations that he makes in his resignation are correct, then it's obviously an indication that the anticorruption measures that were committed by the government are not yet working," the IMF managing director said.
The IMF is the main source of rescue financing for Ukraine as the cash-strapped country contends with crises ranging from falling commodity prices to a new trade embargo by Russia, its main market for agricultural and industrial goods in the past.
The fund has a $17.5 billion bailout program for Ukraine that is conditioned on the government enacting free-market economic reforms and fighting corruption.
"There's more progress to be had in this area," Lagarde said. "A lot of work needs to be done, and it has to be implemented vigorously because the Ukrainian authorities are not only accountable to the Ukrainian people but also to the international community."
While Lagarde did not discuss the status of its loan program for Ukraine, Kyiv is hoping the IMF will decide soon on disbursing a third tranche of loans of $1.7 billion, which has been delayed since October.
Ukraine is battling an economic depression which saw the economy shrink by more than 10 percent last year, a downturn made worse by its war against pro-Russian separatists, who have taken control over parts of the country's eastern industrial heartland.
The IMF and other western lenders in Europe and the United States are apprehensive about Ukraine's instability amidst war and recession. Abromavicius is the fourth reform-minded minister to tender his resignation since Ukraine's 2014 break in ties with Russia and shift toward Europe.
Last-Ditch Talks
"The consequences of his announcement are hard to predict, but it's clear that they are very negative," a Kyiv lawmaker from Poroshenko's faction told the Reuters news agency. "It could lead to the postponement of the IMF tranche."
Poroshenko held last-ditch talks with the Lithuanian-born Abromavicius on February 3 in a bid to change his mind and reassure him that all his charges would be investigated in full.
But there was no indication afterwards that the minister had changed his mind, although the government announced that three other Ukrainian cabinet members who had previously tendered their resignations said they would remain in their posts.
Poroshenko arranged a meeting with ambassadors from the Group of Seven economic powers on February 4 to reassure them, while Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk held an emergency cabinet meeting to try to repair the damage and demonstrate unity in the deeply divided government.
Yatsenyuk said the government was determined not to stray from its reform drive. "Our principle is one for all and all for one. We came as a united team and we will work as a united team," he said.
"We demand...an end to blackmail, political pressure, [and] under-the-table dealings for positions of ministers, their deputies, or the heads of state companies," he said.
The health, agriculture, and infrastructure ministers, who had previously tendered their resignations after Abromavicius's announcement, said they would continue to work provided they were allowed to pass reform initiatives without political interference.
But Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Groysman said Ukraine was entering a "deep political crisis" and called for a government reshuffle. One legislator raised the prospect of holding a vote of no confidence in the government.
With reporting by Reuters, dpa, and AFP
We are now closing the live blog for today. Until we resume again tomorrow morning, you can catch up with all our other Ukraine news here.