By Dan Peleschuk and Yuliia Dysa
KYIV, Ukraine (Reuters) -President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday submitted draft legislation to restore the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies, reversing course after an outburst of public criticism.
Measures enacted earlier this week that established greater control by the prosecutor general, a political appointee, over the anti-corruption bureau NABU and the specialised prosecution unit SAPO had fuelled rare wartime protests and had thrown Kyiv’s EU accession bid into question.
The agencies said they had been involved in drafting the bill and urged parliament to hold a vote as soon as possible.
“The bill, submitted by the president of Ukraine as urgent, restores all procedural powers and guarantees of independence to the NABU and SAPO,” they said in a statement.
Zelenskiy, whose image as a tireless leader of the three-year-old war against Russia’s invasion has been tarnished by the controversy, said the text of the new bill is “well-balanced”.
He also said that the bill guarantees “reliable protection of the law enforcement system against any Russian influence”, in an apparent move to justify the law hurriedly passed on Tuesday.
On Monday, security forces arrested two anti-corruption officials on suspicion of ties to Russia and launched sweeping searches of other employees.
Critics had decried the move to give a Zelenskiy-appointed prosecutor control over the agencies, saying it looked like political pressure on the agencies.
MERZ AND STARMER
After the law was adopted, Zelenskiy faced a severe backlash, with thousands of people joining protests across the country, even though public gatherings are restricted by martial law.
“It is important that we respect the position of all Ukrainians and are grateful to everyone who stands with Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said.
In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy later said the bill had been discussed not only with the agencies concerned, but also with Ukrainian legal experts and officials from Ukraine’s Western allies. The text, he said, would be presented to Western experts whose comments on the legislation were welcome.
Zelenskiy also said the reaction of Ukrainians who joined protests in major cities was understandable.
“It is important that Ukrainians react in such a worthy fashion to all events,” he said. “Ukraine is a people who care.”
Ukraine’s international allies had rushed to express vocal criticism to the earlier legislation.
The International Monetary Fund said the law, curbing the agencies’ authority, would be “very problematic” for the war-torn country’s macroeconomic stability and growth.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz both had calls with Zelenskiy on Thursday, offering their countries’ expertise on the new bill.
“I invited Germany to join the expert review of the bill. Friedrich assured me of readiness to assist,” Zelenskiy said on X.
Ruslan Stefanchuk, the chairman of parliament, said it would be considered at the next plenary session, although MPs were meant to start their summer holiday this week.
Opposition lawmakers separately registered their own legislation to revoke the restrictive measures, which had been fast-tracked with help from Zelenskiy’s ruling party.
“They heroically solved the problems that they created just as heroically. Grand imitators,” Yaroslav Zhelezniak, from the opposition Holos party, said on Telegram.
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa and Dan PeleschukEditing by Frances Kerry, Toby Chopra and Ron Popeski)
