The New Ukraine: Inside Kiev’s House of Cards

Ukraine is ranked 144th on Transparency International’s corruption index; by comparison, neighbors Russia and Poland are ranked 127 and 38, respectively. Business owners with close ties to the former president, described as oligarchs, have fortunes worth billions even as the country owes billions in debt, much of that to Russia. Many of the wealthy have fled to Russia and tried to destroy documents, but not all. Power is now concentrated in the interim government: “Tuchinov … has now become the country's most important figurehead,” reports Spiegel. “He is head of parliament, acting president and is simultaneously coordinating the establishment of a new government.” Activists are skeptical about immediate reform, and the article concludes: “They are afraid that the political profiteering of recent years will carry on, just with different beneficiaries.” – YaleGlobal