Corruption in Ukraine: Drifting Offshore

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is facing a crisis of confidence after his name appeared in the Panama Papers leak and the country's prime minister, with whom he clashed, stepped down. Poroshenko rose to power on an anti-corruption platform following the 2014 Euromaidan revolution, but many of his supporters are disappointed in the slow pace of reforms and an apparent unwillingness to crack down on corrupt officials. A confectionery magnate before becoming a politician, Poroshenko promised to sell his candy business during his election campaign to avoid a conflict of interest. But he has yet to do so, and this failure became headline news when the Panama Papers indicated that he had set up an offshore holding company to shield his assets from taxation. VICE News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky went to Kiev to witness the embattled president push through a new fragile government, as allegations swirled around his offshore holdings.

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Chatham House Report . The Struggle for Ukraine

Four years since the start of its ‘Euromaidan’ revolution, Ukraine is fighting for its survival as an independent and viable state. Ukrainians took to the streets in late 2013 in protest at their government’s suspension, under pressure from Russia, of plans for a closer relationship with the European Union. While their activism forced President Viktor Yanukovych from power and heralded a more EU-aligned foreign policy under a new government, it also prompted a hostile response from Russia, which annexed Crimea in early 2014, started a territorial conflict in eastern Ukraine, and continues to try to fragment and enfeeble its neighbour. This report is partly about Ukraine’s struggle to hold together and resist Russia’s interference and pressure – in the military, diplomatic, economic and media spheres. But it is also about a related internal contest to determine the political, institutional and civic future of Ukraine. In broader terms the Euromaidan was a response as much to

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