Corruption Scandal in Ukraine Will not Affect Military Aid

According to senior fellow at Atlantic Council Adrian Karatnycky

The Gaze reports on referring to Ukrinform .

The corruption scandal in Ukraine may affect the level of economic support, but will not affect military aid, according to Adrian Karatnycky, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and former president of Freedom House.

He said this in an interview with Ukrinform. “I believe that this may affect the level of support. I don't think it will lead to the cessation of aid—the bigger problem may be the flow of aid into the Ukrainian economy, but not military support,” the expert said.

There may be more delays and a desire to see control mechanisms, he added. According to Karatnycky, there is growing concern in the West because “so many ministries and so many segments of the government have been found to be riddled with high levels of corruption and, to some extent, even ties to Russia and Russian intelligence.”

In his opinion, the President of Ukraine has the opportunity to prevent some of these problems by taking decisive measures that will show that “he is not obstructing investigations and is using his instruments of influence to cooperate fully with them,” and that he is ready for changes in the government and “a completely new combination of forces, which will require consultations with reformers, anti-corruption groups, civil society, the volunteer sector, and the democratic patriotic opposition.” Karatnytsky clarified that he meant the need to include technocrats and specialists who were not involved in corruption schemes in the government.