{"id":1264738,"date":"2025-07-18T12:16:52","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T09:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/sanctions-against-poroshenko-searches-at-shabunins-disrupted-beb-competition-financial-times-writes-about-signs-of-authoritarianism-in-ukraine\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T12:16:52","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T09:16:52","slug":"sanctions-against-poroshenko-searches-at-shabunins-disrupted-beb-competition-financial-times-writes-about-signs-of-authoritarianism-in-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/sanctions-against-poroshenko-searches-at-shabunins-disrupted-beb-competition-financial-times-writes-about-signs-of-authoritarianism-in-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanctions against Poroshenko, searches at Shabunin’s, disrupted BEB competition \u2013 Financial Times writes about signs of authoritarianism in Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

The<\/a> Financial Times, in its article “Volodymyr Zelensky accused of worsening authoritarian regime after anti-corruption raids”, lists cases that testify to the rollback of democracy in Ukraine.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anti-corruption raids against prominent Ukrainian figures and moves to bolster loyalists in leadership positions have led to accusations that President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government is moving toward authoritarianism.<\/p>\n

Politicians, activists and diplomats accuse Zelensky and his top aides of using emergency powers granted by martial law to sideline critics, silence civil society leaders and tighten control.<\/p>\n

The outrage grew after the State Bureau of Investigation searched the home of prominent anti-corruption activist Vitaliy Shabunin in Kharkiv last week, seizing phones, laptops and tablets. The searches followed sanctions against several prominent politicians, including fifth president Petro Poroshenko, who is a critic of the government, the newspaper recalls.<\/p>\n

“Zelensky is using my case to send a message to two groups that could pose a threat to him. The message is: If I can publicly persecute Shabunin \u2014 under the scrutiny of the media and despite public support \u2014 then I can persecute any of you,” Shabunin said.<\/p>\n

He added that in his case, pressure is being exerted on two groups at once: as a journalist exposing corruption, and as a military man, since the charges against him are based on his military service.<\/p>\n

Much of Ukraine’s civil society has condemned the searches and warned that they appear to be part of a campaign by Zelensky’s office against critics.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Zelensky’s government decided not to appoint Oleksandr Tsyvinsky, a detective with the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), to head the Bureau of Economic Security, which investigates economic crimes. Tsyvinsky was elected independently, but the Cabinet said he was “not suitable.”<\/p>\n

Ukrainian activists, independent media and Western officials in Kyiv warn that all this risks derailing the progress in reforms since Ukraine’s 2014 democratic revolution.<\/p>\n

“These were not searches. These were intimidation tactics. This was not about justice. This was about pressure,” said Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of the CPC.<\/p>\n

Shabunin and his supporters believe the move is retaliation for the CPC’s investigation into high-level corruption and criticism of Zelensky’s cabinet after it rejected Tsivinsky’s appointment to the BEB.<\/p>\n

The case against Shabunin has sparked outrage in Ukraine’s pro-reform community, with leading independent media outlets publishing scathing editorials.<\/p>\n

“Zelensky feels vulnerable. We blocked their priority bill – amnesty for corruption-related crimes committed by arms suppliers. And NABU announced suspicion to Deputy Prime Minister Chernyshev, who belongs to Zelensky’s inner circle,” Shabunin said.<\/p>\n

A Western diplomat in Kyiv who has worked closely with Ukrainian civil society said the cases of Shabunin and Kubrakov “are not isolated events.” “They fit a pattern: critics are pushed aside, loyalists are protected.”<\/p>\n

“There is a feeling at Bankova that the West and especially the US have shifted their focus. The rule of law and good governance are no longer so important,” the diplomat said.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s commitment to democratic reform has been key to securing Western support. But with U.S. political attention focused on domestic politics and military aid becoming more transactional, some officials in Kyiv appear willing to test the limits.<\/p>\n

“If institutions designed to provide a system of checks and balances are turned into political instruments, Ukraine risks losing the democratic core it fought to build after 2014,” Kaleniuk said.<\/p>\n

\n

Also follow “Pryamy”<\/strong> on Facebook<\/a> , Twitter<\/a> , Telegram<\/a> and Instagram<\/a> .<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Financial Times, in its article “Volodymyr Zelensky accused of worsening authoritarian regime after anti-corruption raids”, lists cases that testify to the rollback of democracy in Ukraine. Anti-corruption raids against prominent Ukrainian figures and moves to bolster loyalists in leadership positions have led to accusations that President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government is moving toward authoritarianism. Politicians, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":1253534,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76871,76872,76894],"class_list":["post-1264738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2","category-news-feed","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1264738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1253534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1264738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1264738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}