UPDATE: Zelensky signs law destroying independence of Ukraine's key anti-corruption bodies
kyivindependent.com
President Volodymyr Zelensky approved the law on July 22 despite large-scale protests against the law, which critics say undermines years of pro-democracy reforms.

The Ukrainian parliament on July 22 approved amendments that effectively destroy the independence of Ukraine’s two key anti-corruption institutions, according to opposition lawmakers and watchdogs.

The legislation grants the prosecutor general new powers over investigations led by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and cases led by the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO).

The step comes as Ukrainian authorities ramp up pressure against the two agencies established as part of the anti-graft reforms after the EuroMaidan Revolution.

  • RedPandaRaider@feddit.orgEnglish
    932·
    2 days ago

    You are the one who is lying by parroting western propaganda.

    Russia was not involved at first. At first it was simply protests. They were then dispersed by the Ukrainian military. Only when Donbass and Luhansk formed their own governments and militias did Russia start supplying equipment and sending volunteers.

    Up until the 2022 invasion, it was still a civil war with increasingly heavier support by Russia for the breakaway regions.

    And this is exactly what was their pre-text for the invasion. “Protecting” the ethnic Russians in those breakaway states and those under Ukrainian military rule.

    If you do not believe any of this, you’re free to lookup videos of the protests in 2014. There are plenty of videos still available showing the protesters in most prominently Donetsk and Odessa.

    Also spheres of influence is not an invention by Putin. This is how the world has worked for a long time. We had the cold war spheres of influence, before that during the interregnum of thr world wars, countries did end up shifting and finally aligning themselves with great powers again. The last stroke were the spheres established by the Molotov-Ribbentropp treaty. And before WW1 there were certainly arguable also spheres of influence across both Europe and the colonies of the great powers.

    And lastly no, nothing of this has anything to do with an ideological struggle. We’re not in the cold war anymore. The whole world runs on capitalist economies with republican systems (save for the constitutional monarchies and very few last absolute monarchies). There is no ideological struggle between more authoritarian and more liberal ones. The only struggle there is, is that over spheres, markets, soft power. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has not single thing to do with democracy vs authoritarianism. Russian ultranationalists do not lead the nation. Even in the worst case scenario Russia would annex a part of Ukraine and install a puppet regime over the rest. Ending Ukraine as a nation is neither feasible nor a goal for Putin and the government. The same way that Belarus keeps existing as a nation.