Chief prosecutor, Viktor Shokin resigns

UKRAINE - In Brief 16 Feb 2016 by Dmytro Boyarchuk

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This nervous day is bringing its fruits. Prior to the Prime-minister report at the parliament President Poroshenko called publicly for resignation of Chief prosecutor Viktor Shokin and for resignation of Prime-minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. This move was positively perceived by observers since it was in line with demands of western donors and opinion-makers. By now Viktor Shokin already officially informed about his resignation (Yatsenyuk is still at the parliament). Though it was a very positive step towards resolving of current political crisis, it’s much more important who will be the new Chief prosecutor and how it will develop with the Cabinet. In fact, Ukrainian politicians love to make noisy steps hoping that such moves might ease the tension. By no way it means they want to change situation. Previously, political leaders easily reverted as soon as they see that scandal calms down. Against this backdrop we are far from considering this move as a real step towards fight of corruption rather an effort to maneuver under current severe political crisis. Only if tension remains high we can hope that some positive changes will be brought to the prosecutors’ office. In any case so far for Poroshenko it’s only a game of selecting right signals not an issue of accepting real changes.