While Prosecutor General Kravchenko repeats the mistakes of his predecessors, new law enforcement agencies are becoming the center of reforms.

Ukraine’s law enforcement system retains the Soviet model of PR-imitation activity, while the Bureau of Economic Security has begun to demonstrate real steps toward cleansing and reform.

Anti-corruption policy expert Viktor Taran writes about this.

According to Taran, the story of the so-called “Mindich tapes” revealed not only the scale of shadowy schemes but also the long-standing inaction of the agencies responsible for combating corruption. The expert believes the key reason is the political dependence of law enforcement officials, who comply with the government’s informal “wishes” for non-interference.

Taran notes that the current Prosecutor General, Ruslan Kravchenko, has essentially continued the practices of his predecessors. According to him, the head of the OGP’s activities are limited to business trips, official meetings, and PR publications, while the agency’s actual results remain inconclusive. The Prosecutor General also declined to comment on the situation with Mindich and the corruption schemes associated with it.

At the same time, the expert highlights a counterexample: the work of the new Director of the Bureau of Economic Security, Alexander Tsivinsky, who was appointed through an open competition and with the public support of international partners. After his appointment, he initiated a complete re-certification of the Bureau’s employees, leading to the dismissal of most of the senior management.

Taran notes that the Bureau of Economic Security is already demonstrating concrete results: exposing schemes in the area of excisable goods, identifying companies underreporting income, seizing large quantities of illegal fuel and counterfeit products, and referring cases to court.

According to the expert, the BEB’s successes have led to information attacks on the new leadership, demonstrating the shadow players’ reluctance to lose influence. Nevertheless, Tsivinsky declares a course toward systemic change, de-shadowing the economy, and non-punitive cooperation with businesses.

Taran believes that the BEB, under its new leadership, could become a “role model” among anti-corruption agencies, while the current Prosecutor General’s career “will end along with the current administration’s term of office.”