The EU is providing Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies with large-scale, systematic support, both technical and expert. Semen Kryvonos, the chief of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), has emphasized the strategic importance of this cooperation for the state, as per UkrInform.
According to Kryvonos, EU assistance has long gone beyond symbolic gestures and has become a real tool to strengthen NABU’s institutional capacity.
European anti-corruption initiative: not declarations
A key element of this cooperation, Kryvonos notes, is the European Anti-Corruption Initiative, which is a special project of the European Union operating directly in Ukraine.
“EU support is very important for us. We have the European Anti-Corruption Initiative — a special project active in Ukraine,” he says.
Within this initiative, the EU assists NABU with equipment procurement, training programs, and technical support, directly impacting the effectiveness of investigations.
Memorandums and investigative teams: how European cooperation works
Kryvonos has also highlighted cooperation with law enforcement agencies of EU countries.
NABU has active memoranda of understanding with both the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and national law enforcement agencies of EU member states.
An important tool in this collaboration is joint investigative teams, which allow work on transnational corruption schemes.
€4 million recovered: precedent that changes rules
As an example of the effectiveness of this cooperation, Kryvonos has cited a case with the French prosecutor’s office.
“Thanks to cooperation with the French prosecutor’s office, we managed to recover about €4 million that had been misappropriated through a scheme at the Polygraph Plant ‘Ukraine’,” he states.
This was the first case in which funds of this scale, diverted through a corruption scheme, were returned to Ukraine's state budget.
Extradition and asset recovery: what NABU expects next?
The NABU director has expressed hope that European partners will continue supporting Ukraine in the extradition of case figures hiding in EU countries and in the recovery of stolen assets.
“We expect that partners will continue responding to our requests to extradite our suspects and return the funds,” emphasizes Kryvonos.
Anti-corruption and defense capability: direct link
The key point Kryvonos stresses is that fighting corruption directly affects Ukraine’s defense capability.
“Exposing corruption schemes by independent anti-corruption agencies has a positive effect on our defense capability,” he notes.
According to Kryvonos, this is not only about justice but also about the state's economic capacity to resist the enemy: to produce weapons, supply the army, and support the Armed Forces during a full-scale war.
He has stressed that today it is important to talk not just about the harm caused by corruption, but also about Ukraine's ability to overcome this challenge and the results it is already showing.
