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Government Corruption
The West has bent Ukraine: three main consequences of the NABU scandal
2025-08-01
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Denis Davydov

[REGNUM] "Turboregime" has returned to the Verkhovna Rada: today it adopted as a whole the law on the return of powers to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), introduced by Volodymyr Zelensky.

A total of 331 people's deputies voted for the decision, realizing the importance of the moment - the "people's rally" continued in Mariinsky Park, and Western partners conveyed in the most convincing manner the severity of the consequences if NABU and SAP do not return to their original independence.

Speaker of the Parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk signed the law right in the session hall immediately after its adoption. Following him, Zelensky, who had taken the path of the righteous, signed it by 3 p.m., stating that the state listens to public opinion.

According to the law, the Prosecutor General and his deputies cannot give instructions to either NABU detectives or SAP prosecutors; they are subordinate only to their superiors. The most they can do is provide pre-trial investigation materials upon request.

Cases that are being handled by these structures cannot be transferred to other bodies, except in cases where there are "objective circumstances" that make it impossible for the Bureau to operate or conduct an investigation during martial law. However, the decision to transfer cases is made by the head of the SAP or the Prosecutor General.

However, like other law enforcement officers, privileged anti-corruption officers will be required to undergo lie detector testing once every two years if they have relatives in Russia. In addition, everyone will be subject to an SBU check for possible assistance to Russia - the special service must conduct it within six months from the date the law comes into force.

The protesters at the Verkhovna Rada responded to the adoption of the law with applause, and it would seem that the conflict is over, and they can move on. However, for Zelensky and his entourage, the new unpleasant page in their biography has only changed their appearance.

Since the mechanism of changes in the power structure has already been launched, and what could have happened quickly in the event of sabotage with the return of powers to the anti-corruption vertical, will happen without haste.

But it will happen.

CONSEQUENCE ONE: LOSS OF CONTROL
Zelensky's purely media panic retreat and rejection of previous intentions to break the externally controlled system consisting of NABU, SAP, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, the High Anti-Corruption Court and public grant structures looks like a victory for the street.

Last time, he was “pressured” in exactly the same way to abandon the peaceful course and implement the Minsk agreements, and to send the National Guard and the SBU against the people means to completely lose legitimacy, which Zelensky already has big problems with.

This means that the traditional mechanism of influencing the government through Maidans, successfully used in Ukraine for almost two decades, has once again started to spin its gears. The obstacle of martial law, during which street protests are prohibited, has been successfully overcome.

Now it is possible to “turn on the street” again, which is probably what will be done – ahead is a period of practical implementation of the West’s demands related to the fight against corruption.

At the same time, the former mono-majority continues to disintegrate: against the backdrop of the vote, deputy Dmytro Kostyuk announced his withdrawal from the Servant of the People parliamentary faction. Last time, he was one of those who were "pushed" to vote for the destruction of the independence of NABU and SAP.

And since there were at least 60% of those out of 263 voters, the “fall of servants” will continue – along with the formation of a new parliamentary coalition for the task of changing the leadership of parliament and further limiting the powers of the president.

Ideally, with the creation of a conditional “national salvation coalition” and the seizure of control of the country.

CONSEQUENCE TWO: FUNDING SHORTAGE
Following Zelensky's fatal decision to drive "independent law enforcement agencies" under his control, EU officials announced a "pause" in providing financial aid to Kyiv "until the situation is rectified." Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung also wrote that the European Commission threatened to suspend funding in the amount of 50 billion euros.

On July 27, the head of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen, spoke about the situation with NABU and SAP : "Ukraine has already achieved a lot on its European path. It must rely on these solid foundations and preserve independent anti-corruption bodies, which are the cornerstones of the rule of law in Ukraine."

And in the context of European aid, we are now talking about the EU's share of 17.2 billion euros in the G7 ERA Loans credit program, which Ukraine wanted to receive by the end of 2025. Together with other programs, we were talking about 30 billion euros - this is a large part of the Ukrainian budget deficit (this year, the calculation is to receive 39 billion).

In total, according to calculations by Kyiv experts, the attempt to subordinate NABU and SAP resulted in a sum of $60 billion, without which Ukraine physically cannot ensure its existence.

However, the current rollback does not mean that money will immediately flow into the accounts: as Reuters reports, in order to unlock the next tranches of loan programs from the European Union and the IMF, Ukraine needs to implement reforms that include hiring more judges to the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC), reforming the agency responsible for managing nationalized assets (ARMA), and appointing a head of the Bureau of Economic Security (BEB).

And giving complete freedom to the security structures that are completely uncontrolled by the authorities means signing your own death warrant. The appointment of the BEB leadership, for example, has been blocked by the Cabinet of Ministers for over a month, and the last "breakdown of the IMF beacon" was on July 30 - despite everything. The government's proposal is to hold a new competition.

Consequently, the authorities are determined to sabotage “anti-corruption reforms,” which will mean a severe deficit of external financial injections.

CONSEQUENCE THREE: A NOOSE AROUND THE NECK
Regnum News Agency has already reported in detail that anti-corruption structures are an instrument of Western control over the Ukrainian elite. As well as the fact that the entire chain of events is connected with the investigation of huge corruption schemes leading directly to Zelensky and his closest associates.

But while the current bodies were limited in their capabilities in various ways, they did not have room to maneuver. This is where the demands of the "Western partners" come from. Thus, NABU can only initiate cases under corruption articles, and its main clients are officials, judges, law enforcement officers and other civil servants.

Outside this sphere, NABU is powerless - and it should be insured by the Bureau of Economic Security. Its sphere of competence is tax evasion and other economic crimes committed by people without special status. It is this Bureau that can immediately initiate cases against all people and companies associated with Zelensky, Yermak and other high-ranking officials, even if they did not receive any budget contracts.

And at the same time against all the employees of these people who receive salaries in envelopes.

The staffing of the HACC means the fastest possible consideration of corruption cases. And since the entire state organism is saturated with it, the destruction of power with its simultaneous discrediting through the foreign and Ukrainian press of the grant pool will happen in the shortest possible time.

Which is obviously what will happen before our eyes in the near future.

Posted by:badanov

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