The recent conversation between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has generated renewed interest in the fight against corruption in the former Soviet Republics (FSRs) and Moscow’s erstwhile allies, often referred to as post-Soviet states, in Europe. Almost from their first days as independent nations, corruption has been a major problem for these countries. It has weakened their economic performance, legal systems and political legitimacy. It complicates the ability of the FSRs to participate in European institutions such as the European Union and NATO. Equally important, corrupt practices have created an avenue for outsiders, particularly Russia, to undermine fragile institutions, blackmail leaders and influence political processes. In many ways, fighting corruption in the FSRs and Eastern Europe is as important to the security of NATO as strengthening their ability to resist overt military aggression.
It was all but inevitable that the FSRs and those countries of Eastern Europe that had once been under Soviet domination would suffer from chronic, even endemic, corruption. In the Soviet era, the law and governmental institutions had always been subordinate to party politics. There was no effective separation of powers, independent judiciary or free press. Transparency was an unknown word. The “gold rush” environment that occurred in many countries as their economies privatized made it all but inevitable that favors would be traded for new-found riches. Public anger over the enriching of a few with special access and the creation of extreme income inequality also discredited newly-created governments.
According to a recent report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, “Corruption is the main challenge to the democratic development of post-Soviet states.” Corruption does more than merely sap the economic energies of countries struggling to establish themselves in a global capitalist marketplace. It undermines nascent political institutions, weakens the rule of law and corrupts the political process.
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