Explainer: Does Zelensky’s crackdown on anti-corruption agencies have anything to do with Russian influence?

President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that the purpose of the law dismantling Ukraine's anti-corruption infrastructure was to curtail Russian influence.

However, the law passed and signed on July 22 does not have anything to do with Russian influence. Its clauses deprive anti-corruption agencies of their independence, and there is nothing in the law that targets Russian agents in or outside the agencies.

"The clause that the prosecutor general can take cases away from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) is unlikely to have an impact on (Russian agents)," Kateryna Butko, head of the anti-corruption watchdog AutoMaidan, told the Kyiv Independent.

Zelensky could also have been referring to the sweeping searches at the NABU and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) that took place on July 21 and targeted two alleged Russian agents.

But even that reference is dubious because two alleged Russian moles do not justify the destruction of Ukraine's whole anti-corruption infrastructure, anti-corruption activists say.

Moreover, no evidence has so far been presented to prove their guilt, and most of the searches were about unrelated traffic violations from several years ago.

The President's Office did not respond to requests for comment.

‘We know how to stand up for our rights’ — Ukrainians protest law threatening anti-corruption institutions

Thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets following the parliament’s hasty decision to crush the independent anti-corruption institutions. Protesters gathered near the Ivan Franko Theater in downtown Kyiv — just a few blocks from the President’s Office — at 8 p.m. local time. By then, President Volodymyr Zelensky had not yet officially signed the newly adopted law that critics say was to dismantle the independence of two key anti-corruption bodies — the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU

The Kyiv IndependentKateryna Denisova

Nothing in the law is about Russian influence

Zelensky said in his evening address on July 22 that "anti-corruption infrastructure will continue to operate — but without Russian influence."

"Everything must be cleansed of (Russian influence)," he added.

The president doubled down on the claim, proposing new legislation and once again using "Russian influence" as a justification for passing the dubious law.

He also said that "there is no explanation for why Russians are still able to obtain the information they need" — an apparent reference to alleged leaks from anti-corruption agencies.

Zelensky provided no proof that such leaks exist.

Anti-corruption activists see this statement as manipulative because the law on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) does not contain any clauses on fighting Russian influence.

Instead of fighting Russian influence, the law eliminates the independence of the NABU and SAPO and subordinates them to the prosecutor general.

Under the law, the prosecutor general will supervise anti-corruption prosecutors and will be able to take cases away from the NABU and SAPO.

Anastasia Radina, head of parliament's anti-corruption committee from Zelensky's Servant of the People faction, told the Kyiv Independent that it is difficult for her "to understand how specifically provisions of this bill counteract alleged Russian agents in the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office."

Sweeping searches

Zelensky was also likely referring to the searches and checks conducted at the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office premises by the Prosecutor General's Office, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), and the State Investigation Bureau on July 21.

The searches targeted at least 15 bureau employees, and most of them were related to alleged traffic violations.

The Security Service also conducted checks of NABU and SAPO employees' access to state secrets.

One of the NABU employees was charged with high treason for allegedly spying for Russia.

The bureau said, however, that no evidence had been presented to prove his guilt.

Olena Shcherban, an expert at the Anti-Corruption Action Center (ANTAC), told the Kyiv Independent that ANTAC representatives had attended court hearings related to the case but had seen no evidence so far.

Another NABU employee, Ruslan Mahamedrasulov, was charged with collaborating with Russia for allegedly maintaining contacts with Russia and serving as an intermediary in cannabis sales to the Russian republic of Dagestan.

Radina said that "some of the evidence, frankly speaking, just seems to not match explanations that the SBU provides."

"For example, the SBU claims that they have uncovered one NABU detective, actually a rather high-profile official, in illicit trade with Russia, and they made public a wiretapping of private phone conversations of this person in question," she added. "However, everyone can go online and just listen to these conversations. They are not about trade with Dagestan. They are about trade with Uzbekistan, which is not Russia."

Butko said that the accusations against the two employees - whether true or false - could not be legitimate grounds for eliminating the anti-corruption agencies' independence.

She said that, out of the NABU's about 700 employees, only two are suspected by the SBU of being Russian moles, while at the SAPO no one is suspected at all.

Butko said that even more Security Service employees have been suspected in the past of collaborating with Russia, but no one is dismantling the security agency because of that.

Shcherban sees the sweeping searches as a smokescreen for destroying the anti-corruption infrastructure.

"It's a coordinated campaign to discredit Ukraine's anti-corruption institutions," she said.

Russian influence on Zelensky's inner circle?

Anti-corruption activists say accusations of Russian influence could easily be redirected at Zelensky and his team.

It is ironic that the bill destroying Ukraine's anti-corruption infrastructure was backed by both Zelensky's Servant of the People party and lawmakers from the banned pro-Russian Opposition Platform-For Life party remaining in parliament without party affiliation, Shcherban said.

Moreover, the bill deals a blow to Ukraine's European integration and thus "benefits the Kremlin, first of all," she said.

Shcherban also mentioned that the accusations against the NABU and SAPO ring hollow as long as such controversial officials as Zelensky's Deputy Chief of Staff Oleh Tatarov work at the President's Office.

Tatarov was a top police official under former pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych. Zelensky appointed him as a deputy chief of staff in 2020 in violation of the 2014 lustration law, which bans the appointment of top Yanukovych officials for at least 10 years.

Tatarov has also been investigated for unlawfully persecuting protesters during the pro-Western 2014 EuroMaidan Revolution, which ousted Yanukovych, and publicly lashed out at them while defending the police who beat them. He has not been officially charged.

Tatarov has also been accused of sabotaging Western-oriented rule of law reforms.

For anti-corruption activists, Tatarov has become a symbol of the President's Office's tolerance for graft, while Zelensky has dismissed accusations against Tatarov as baseless.

Tatarov was charged in 2020 with giving a bribe to an official before he joined the President's Office. Prosecutors and courts obstructed the case, and it was eventually closed.

Tatarov did not respond to a request for comment.