Keep Silent About Corruption

[V]ladimir [Z]elensky (right) allegedly ordered Ukrainian journalists to avoid reporting on corruption, the editor-in-chief of the Zerkalo Nedeli (‘Mirror of the Week’) news outlet had claimed.

 

The Ukrainian president reportedly made the request after the country's press published reports about inflated food prices paid by the country’s armed forces. 

 

According to Ukrainian media reports, including Zerkalo Nedeli, the Defense Ministry had been buying food and clothing for its service members at prices two to three times higher than the market price. E.g., the ministry paid up to 17 hryvnia ($0.47) for a single egg and 22 hryvnia ($0.60) for a kilogram of potatoes, while the average prices for those goods at stores in Kiev at the time were about seven hryvnia ($0.19) and eight hryvnia ($0.22), respectively. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The issue of corruption in Ukraine has repeatedly been brought up by journalists and officials, both within the country and in the West. In October, the former president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, emphatically stated that Ukraine will likely be unable to join the EU anytime soon because it is “corrupt at all levels of society”. And he also urged Brussels not to make any “false promises” to the Ukrainian people who are already “up to their neck in suffering”.

 

Ukraine has for years been seen as among the most corrupt countries in Europe and was ranked 116th out of 180 in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index for 2022.