The performance of Ukraine’s energy sector is critical for its security. Yet systemic and pervasive corruption in this key sector during the country’s 25 years of independence is a sadly familiar story. Officials at the highest level of various Ukrainian governments and their confederates have siphoned off billions of dollars annually to spread political largesse and stock partisan war chests. Successive governments have proclaimed plans for energy reform over the years even while political insiders have continued to fight over Ukraine’s various energy franchises.

As long as reform is stalled, the energy sector will continue to corrupt Ukrainian politics and to make the country more vulnerable to external threats (precisely the outcome certain actors desire). One could say that energy corruption is the Original Sin of Ukrainian independence. Redemption from this sin, in the form of energy reform, is key to national survival. And failure would damage not just Ukraine’s security, but that of its European neighbors as well.

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