Kyiv stonewalls as pressure mounts to confirm top economic watchdog

The European Commission on Wednesday joined a chorus of voices publicly urging Kyiv to appoint the head of a key law enforcement watchdog — but even a bald reminder of its “reform commitments” didn’t appear to move Ukraine’s government.

Oleksandr Tsyvinskyi, a veteran anti-corruption detective, was selected on June 24 by an independent commission to lead Ukraine’s Economic Security Bureau, which probes economic crimes. But two successive government cabinets in Kyiv have refused to confirm his appointment, despite Ukraine’s pledges to both the EU and the International Monetary Fund to comply.

Kyiv should swiftly appoint Tsyvinskyi as bureau chief in line with the law, a European Commission spokesperson said in a statement to POLITICO, noting that reform of the agency is “part of Ukraine’s broader reform commitments under the EU accession process.”

Members of the selection committee also said Wednesday that the process was complete and that they could not legally revise their choice of Tsyvinskyi, as the government has demanded. They added that the cabinet has no legal authority to reject their nominee and is violating the law.

But at its Wednesday meeting — the last before a July 31 deadline to appoint Tsyvinskyi expires — the Cabinet again refused to confirm him. 

The EU had already cut some €1.5 billion in funding for Ukraine in July after the country failed to complete several other required reforms, the Commission spokesperson previously confirmed to POLITICO. 

Kyiv also risks delays in its IMF funding if the appointment isn’t finalized. The IMF did not respond to a request for comment.

That Kyiv is refusing to confirm Tsyvinskyi despite the mounting pressure “says a great deal” about the government’s disconnect from both its own citizens and international partners, James Wasserstrom, a U.S. anti-corruption expert and member of the selection commission, told media on Wednesday.

The Economic Security Bureau is especially critical during wartime given Ukraine’s reliance on Western aid, which must be seen to be spent transparently. | EPA

Kyiv’s formal reason for balking — that Tsyvinskyi’s father is a Russian citizen — doesn’t hold water, commission members have said. Tsyvinskyi has held a security clearance for over a decade and hasn’t talked to his father for years. 

Ukrainian anti-corruption activists and opposition MPs claim the government doesn’t want to appoint Tsyvinskyi because he is too independent-minded. 

Laura Ștefan, a Romanian anti-corruption expert who led the selection commission, said that while she was not privy to the government’s reasoning, she had picked Tsyvinskyi herself due to his track record of resisting political pressure on law enforcement.  

Tsyvinskyi told POLITICO that as a detective at the NABU anti-corruption agency — which Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also attempted to gut last week — he had investigated politicians from both the current government and the opposition. 

The Economic Security Bureau, he argued, is especially critical during wartime given Ukraine’s reliance on Western aid, which must be seen to be spent transparently. The bureau also has an obligation to safeguard public funds, he said, by cracking down on economic crime.