Economic Minister's Resignation Throws Ukraine Into Rapids

“We are either two steps away from a break-through or we are two steps away from a break-down,” Aivaras Abromavicius declared when he announced his resignation as economics minister for Ukraine on February 3. A reformist appointed to modernize Ukraine’s anachronistic economic model, Abromavicius cited “paralyzing” corruption and internal anti-reform sentiments as his primary reasons for leaving, Russia Today reports. His resignation, a move widely criticized by international and domestic actors alike, has the potential to impair a country already struggling with both a civil war on its eastern frontier and financial turbulence back in the capital.

Abromavicius, a Lithuanian native, took office following the 2014 Euromaidan and the ousting of former president Viktor Yanukovych. He was one of the many foreign technocrats appointed to high positions within the administration in order to combat systemic corruption, a problem that has been plaguing Ukraine and many post-Soviet countries.

As a non-native, Ukrainians hoped Abromavicius was someone outside local corruption networks who could help clean up the system from within while swinging the country onto a pro-Western developmental track. His reformist approach included advocating for deregulation and privatization as solutions to Ukraine’s economic toils, but he soon ran into roadblocks when it became apparent that for Ukraine, political and business interests have a long tradition of intermixing in the administration of state-run companies.

According to Times Union, Abromavicius alleged that officials close to President Petro Poroshenko began to pressure him to arbitrarily appoint individuals to his ministry, as well as to launder influence over lucrative sectors.

“Over the past couple of weeks, I started to be intimidated. I started to be really pushed into a corner, forced to appoint some people who in my view have nothing to do in my ministry,” Abromavicius stated in an interview.

In a confrontation, Abromavicius accused Ihor Kononenko, a deputy head with close ties to President Poroshenko, of attempting to block reforms by installing cronies into important managing positions. Kononenko brushed off the accusations as Abromavicius’s excuse for failing to bring about reforms, but the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine has nonetheless moved to investigate the criminal probe.

Abromavicius’s resignation sent both Ukrainian nationals and international backers into chaos as Ukrainian sovereign bonds immediately plummeted, DNA reports. With funds being channeled into the civil war in the east and cheap Russian gas out of the question during the winter, Ukraine’s economic recovery has already been feeble at best.

Abromavicius was a favorite among Western investors who heralded him as a champion of liberal economic reform. He had been working to set Ukraine on track to meet goals set by the International Monetary Fund, which has been withholding a much needed $1.7 billion bailout on the grounds that the country must make severe cuts to the pension system and put up a stronger front against corruption. With Abromavicius’s resignation, hope to enact these measures seems even slimmer.

President Poroshenko has asked the minister to stay and has promised to reshuffle his cabinet this month. However, Abromavicius affirmed that he had no intention of staying.

“Neither I nor my team have any desire to serve as a cover-up for the covert corruption, or become puppets for those who, very much like the ‘old’ government, are trying to exercise control over the flow of public funds,” he said.

The whole episode is similar to the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine, which had brought pro-Western forces to power on planks of Westernizing the government, only to end in political in-fighting and more corruption.