Ukraine’s security services have recovered paintings worth some €16 million that were stolen from an Italian museum, in a much-needed success story for authorities accused of blocking and undermining crucial reforms.
President Petro Poroshenko hailed a "brilliant operation" amid accusations he was forcing through the appointment of a close ally as Ukraine's new prosecutor general, and as yet another noted pro-western reformer resigned from office.
Works by painters including Tintoretto, Rubens and Mantegna, stolen last November from Verona's Castelvecchio museum, were discovered hidden on an island near the Ukrainian border with Moldova.
Ukraine's border guard service said the paintings were held by a criminal group that included citizens of Moldova, Russia and Ukraine. In March, Italian police arrested 13 suspects in the robbery, including Italians and Moldovans. "Today, this brilliant operation reminds the world about the efficient struggle of Ukraine against smuggling and corruption," Mr Poroshenko said.
Last month, Ukrainian security services recovered four 17th-century Dutch masterpieces more than a decade after they were stolen from the Westfries Museum in the Netherlands. The museum claimed a Ukrainian militia with powerful political allies had sought millions of euro to return the paintings – an allegation some of the accused called a Russian-orchestrated plot to discredit Ukraine.
Corruption and cronyism
More than two years after Ukraine’s Kremlin-backed leaders fled to Russia amid violent street protests, Mr Poroshenko and his government face growing criticism over the depth and pace of efforts to fight crime, corruption and cronyism.
The president asked parliament on Thursday to appoint as prosecutor general Yuri Lutsenko, the head of Mr Poroshenko's eponymous political party.
Before that could be done, however, parliament had to pass a law to allow someone without legal training – like Mr Lutsenko – to take that post.
According to several reformist deputies, that law was supported by parliamentary groups that do the bidding of Ukraine’s shadowy “oligarchs”.
"The basic idea is making sure that nothing gets done. It is clear that the oligarchs will be untouchable, that the basic units of kleptocracy in the SBU [security service], courts and the prosecutor offices will also remain intact," said Yegor Sobolev, a deputy from the opposition Self Reliance party.
A new government led by another close ally of Mr Poroshenko took power last month, and includes fewer noteworthy reformers than its predecessor.
Over recent months, reformers have also been ousted from key posts in the prosecutor’s office, and a new law preventing officials from having dual citizenship has accelerated the departure of people who brought expertise from abroad.
The latest to quit is Eka Zguladze, a former deputy interior minister of Georgia, who took the equivalent post in Ukraine to spearhead police reform.
“If the court, prosecutors, customs and other systems are not reformed we will lose not only the police, we will lose the chance to have different Ukraine,” warned Ms Zguladze, who will now be an adviser to the interior ministry.
