Birds of a feather: Ukraine corruption scandal won’t deter Canada from offering support, Anand says
An unfolding corruption scandal in Ukraine will not deter Canada from continuing its support for the war-torn country, but Ottawa expects Kyiv to implement reforms to fight graft, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said on Thursday.
Anti-corruption authorities said this week that they had detained five people and identified two others suspected of involvement in an alleged plot to control procurement at the country’s nuclear agency, Energoatom, and other state enterprises.
The allegations prompted Ukraine’s justice and energy ministers to quit, and have sparked questions about what the country’s highest officials knew of the alleged conspiracy.
It is fast becoming one of the most significant crises for Kyiv since Moscow’s full-scale invasion, with media reports implicating a close associate of President Volodymyr Zelensky. The alleged US$100-million scheme could also hand opponents of Western aid to Ukraine a rationale for cutting assistance after almost four years of war.
Ottawa has provided nearly $22-billion in various forms of aid to Ukraine since 2022.