“The worst legacy of the Soviets for my country was, back then, you couldn’t get anything done without a bribe,” Ukrainian social worker Pavel Pavlovsky told me.
“Your kid didn’t get into a good school, you wouldn’t get a good job, you wouldn’t be seen by the right doctor, or your legal case wouldn’t go the way you want,” he said. “Everything depended on bribes. Things have gradually improved, but there is a lot of work left to do.”
Pavlovsky isn’t the man’s real name. He asked me not to use his real name, because publicly denigrating the Russians can be enough to get a person on Russia’s Kill List.
However, he’s not alone in his concern about corruption in Ukraine. His countrywoman, Olena Tregub from Transparency International, wants everyone to know that “Ukrainian public opinion polls list corruption as the second biggest concern of Ukrainian people. Only their concern about Russia’s invading their country ranks above their worry about corruption.”
Ukrainians know that it’s corruption that keeps the country poor. Every dollar that’s siphoned off to pay for an oligarch’s yacht is money that won’t go for infrastructure or education or health care. Almost equally important, foreign donors or investors aren’t in a hurry to open their checkbooks when they’re worried that a large part of the money could end up in some crook’s million-dollar apartment in Dubai.
Ukrainians may be overwhelmingly eager to attack the problem of corruption, but unfortunately, one of the most effective tools for doing it isn’t available to Ukraine. Other countries that have successfully reduced corruption have done so by publicly exposing it. A technique that works is that when someone is caught taking bribes or embezzling, they’re publicly shamed, and ideally, they spend significant time behind bars.
Ukraine can’t use this technique.
“Revealing instances of corruption provides Russian propagandists with ammunition more potent than bullets,” says Bohdan Vorontsov, co-founder of the Free Nation movement, an umbrella organization of groups that prioritize anti-corruption efforts.
“When Ukraine goes public with an instance of corruption, the Russian propaganda machine swings into action, exaggerating things in order to paint Ukraine as irredeemably corrupt. They do this to discourage investment and aid,” he added.
The fact that Russian propagandists will take advantage of Ukraine’s efforts to expose corruption doesn’t mean that Ukrainians can stop combating corruption.
As Mr. Vorontsov says: “If we do nothing and hide the problem under the carpet, corruption will destroy our future. We need to navigate a precarious path, balancing the imperative to combat corruption against the risks of the Russians using these efforts to defame Ukraine.”
All this leads Mr. Voronstov to point out that “It’s naive to think we can solve the problem quickly. What we can do is work on it. We can show donors and investors that we have a credible process for finding corruption and putting people behind bars. Over time, this becomes a deterrent, and people will conclude that crime doesn’t pay.”
His efforts to reduce corruption in a time of war include:
1. The need for a community that doesn’t tolerate corruption. “Joining the EU can solve this part,” he says.
2. The need for a dedicated anti-corruption bureau at the government level. “This can and will be done.”
3. The need for active civil society participation. “We’re getting there.”
The journey toward a corruption-free society is not swift or straightforward, but for Ukrainians, combatting the Soviet-era legacy of corruption is second only to defending their nation against Russia’s invasion.
