The search conducted by the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) at the home of Vitalii Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Centre, and the formal notice of suspicion issued to him, represent a landmark event. This moment clearly illustrates the government’s shift in conduct before and after the attack on the Economic Security Bureau (ESB). When the government, breaking the law, cynically rejected the candidacy of Oleksandr Tsyvinskyi, selected through a transparent competition, the ESB was the first to face pressure. Shabunin became the second.
Yes, Vitalii Shabunin’s behavior raises some questions. He is often overly categorical and emotionally sharp. His style is not to everyone’s liking. However, few can present a comparable track record of their professional activity to the public.
Yes, in the matter of receiving his military salary, Shabunin may have acted inappropriately. If he had no legal option but to receive the funds, he should have directed them to support the army.
Yes, he has occasionally shown poor judgement in personnel lobbying, not always backing highest-calibre candidates. His support for Rustem Umerov, the current Minister of Defense, is a case in point. The principle of “not stealing” is not sufficient for senior public appointments. Such individuals must also possess professional competence because, at times, the harm caused by incompetence exceeds that inflicted by corruption.
Nevertheless, it is essential to remember one thing: none of Shabunin’s actions were self-serving. This is evident from his personal lifestyle, family values and principles. His activity has consistently served the public good. His mistakes, if any, were made in fighting for strangers, not those in his own inner circle.
That is why the developments surrounding both the ESB competition and Shabunin—unfolding simultaneously for a reason—are not about the ESB or Shabunin in essence. They reflect a much older, deeply entrenched desire among multiple incarnations of corrupt and unprofessional authorities to exact punishment on those they were previously unable to destroy only because of active external support. That support came from Washington, a bedrock of promoting freedom of speech, the rule of law, anti-corruption efforts, transparent elections, institutional effectiveness and equality before the law.
Today, when neither civil society nor the media no longer feel any clear US support because of the Trump administration’s demonstrable indifference to the values that were once central, Ukraine’s authorities have finally allowed themselves to show their true colors. These people are becoming who they really are: predators emerging from an open cage.
This will affect everyone—independent media, civil society organizations and the entire anti-corruption infrastructure: the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) and the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP). They will be next. Because the goal now is to settle scores with everything that once hoisted the banners of “democracy,” “transparency,” “anti-corruption” and “free elections.” For powers that be, the war has become a convenient backdrop for putting these true ambitions into action.
Tragically, neither the case of the ESB nor the unprecedented search of Shabunin’s home—conducted without a court order—can be dismissed as an act of an overzealous subordinate. During Shabunin’s military service, officers were instructed daily to photograph him “hard at work” and send the images to the Office of the President. President Zelenskyy went so far as to discuss Shabunin personally at a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief’s Staff.
Without direct pressure from Zelenskyy, Vasyl Maliuk, head of the Security Service of Ukraine, would never have signed an unsubstantiated letter to the ESB competition commission regarding Oleksandr Tsyvinskyi. Yet it was precisely this letter that formed the basis for the Cabinet of Ministers’ utterly arbitrary decision to cancel the competition results. This anti-democratic fish is rotting from the head down.
As Russia gnaws away at Ukrainian villages, the country’s own government is gnawing away at rights and freedoms, thus jeopardizing Ukraine’s prospects of being different from Russia.