MOSCOW (Sputnik) – In February, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde announced that Ukraine risks returning to a pattern of failed economic policies characterized by slow progress in fighting corruption and influence in policymaking, as well as in improving governance.
"But the [Ukrainian] president, the prime minister and the Parliament must be made to understand that the International Monetary Fund and donor nations, including the United States, cannot continue to shovel money into a corrupt swamp unless the government starts shaping the democratic rule that Ukrainians demanded in their protests," the newspaper wrote on Thursday.
Following the statement, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko pledged Kiev’s commitment to anti-corruption measures.
The New York Times said on Thursday that Poroshenko is "a product of the old system" who "seems to have accepted continuing corruption as the price to pay for a modicum of maneuvering room."
The IMF has pledged a $17.5 billion bailout package for Ukraine in exchange for political reforms.
On Thursday, a statement released on Poroshenko’s website cited US Vice President Joe Biden as saying that Ukraine could get a third tranche of loan guarantees worth $1 billion, as well as aid from other international financial institutions, if a new government oriented on reform is formed.
