U.S. Policy: Plus and Minus Washington’s approach to reform and the Ukrainian economy is also mixed. On the plus side, the Obama administration understands well the nuances of Ukrainian reform. It recognizes that the government in Kyiv needs outside encouragement and, at times, tough love, to make the right reform choice.
Mr. Biden, in particular, has devoted a great deal of time to promoting reform in Ukraine, and he has not been reluctant to tell Mr. Poroshenko and Mr. Yatsenyuk when they have shirked the hard choices that need to be made. This was evident in the conversations regarding Mr. Shokin and the Office of the Procurator General.
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By late fall of 2015, the EU and the United States joined the chorus of those seeking Mr. Shokin’s removal as the start of an overall reform of the Procurator General’s Office. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke publicly about this before and during his December visit to Kyiv; but Mr. Shokin remained in place.
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So did the West. The United States, the EU, and eight Ambassadors of other countries expressed regret at Mr. Abromavicius’ resignation. So did IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde. In response to the controversy, Mr. Poroshenko called for Mr. Shokin’s removal and for an investigation into the charges against Mr.
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UKRAINIAN REFORMS TWO YEARS AFTER THE MAIDAN REVOLUTION AND THE RUSSIAN INVASION
TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2016 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:03 a.m. in Room SD–419, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Bob Corker, chairman of the committee, presiding. Present: Senators Corker [presiding], Risch, Flake, Perdue, Gardner, Isakson, Barrasso, Cardin, Menendez, Shaheen, and Kaine
https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/...aidan Revolution and the Russian Invasion.pdf