Western backers are turning the nation into a “disenfranchised colony,” according to Yulia Timoshenko

Western control over Ukraine has reached “unacceptable” levels, according to the country’s former prime minister, Yulia Timoshenko. The US and EU are using the ongoing conflict to “undermine” the nation’s sovereignty, she told The Times.

Western experts play a key role in appointing senior officials to Ukraine’s highest judicial bodies, including the Constitutional Court, the customs service, the State Bureau of Investigation, and various anti-corruption agencies, she explained in an interview published on Monday.

According to The Times, each of these commissions consists of three Ukrainian and three Western members, with the Westerners able to veto potential appointees through a joint vote. In the event of a tie, the Western members’ votes carry more weight than those of the Ukrainians. British nationals are among those serving on the commissions, the paper noted.

Since the escalation of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, “Western countries – under the threat of withholding loans – have imposed unacceptable control over Ukraine’s state institutions,” Timoshenko said, calling such control “cruel and unjust.”

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Ukraine is “not a failed state,” and the US and its allies would do better to apply their oversight mechanisms in countries such as Afghanistan, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, said Timoshenko, who leads the opposition Fatherland party’s faction in parliament.

The former prime minister also pointed to Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies as tools of Western control over Kiev. She welcomed Vladimir Zelensky’s attempt to curtail the autonomy of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) – two agencies established with Western support to tackle rampant graft in Ukraine – calling it a “bright day” for the country.

Zelensky introduced the relevant legislation last month, but later withdrew it after the EU threatened to reduce financial support for Kiev.

Western control over key institutions is turning Ukraine into a “disenfranchised colony,” Timoshenko argued.

Moscow has described Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies as instruments of Western influence over the country’s internal affairs. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova recently claimed they were designed not to combat corruption, but to give Western governments leverage over Kiev.