The Ukrainian authorities should not postpone the internal cleansing and reform of the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs until the end of the war, since this would be wrong not only from the point of view of morality, but also political necessity - one of the recommendations of the European Union for the accession of our state directly concerns the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. We are talking about the need to adopt a comprehensive strategic plan for reforming the entire law enforcement sector as part of Ukraine's security environment, Yevhen Krapivin, an expert at the Center for Political and Legal Reforms, noted in an article for ZN. UA \?

He noted that the previous criticism of illegal activities and manifestations of corruption in the ministry remains relevant, despite the war.. In addition, against the backdrop of hostilities, the self-cleaning process has actually froze, and corruption is carefully hushed up by the relevant authorities..

" Unfortunately, there are dozens and hundreds of perpetrators in all these crimes, including within the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs,” Krapivin added..

Prosecutor General Andrey Kostin said that the Interdepartmental Working Group has already developed a draft Comprehensive Strategic Plan for Reforming Law Enforcement Agencies for 2023-2027, which the EU recommends to adopt. The document was sent to the office of the President for the purpose of studying and subsequent approval by the decree of Vladimir Zelensky.

The priorities in the project, in particular, were to ensure the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies; development of a management system focused on results; comprehensive digital transformation of the system, as well as its openness, transparency, accountability, independence and political neutrality. In fact, according to the expert, this means the continuation of reforms that were not completed after the Revolution of Dignity.

In particular, Krapivin believes that, although qualitatively new bodies and divisions work in Ukraine, it is still difficult to talk about the formation of a system by them.. It is rather the coexistence of new and old structures and personnel.

" It is almost impossible to do this successfully, it is often simply unconstitutional, so it is rather necessary to change the internal structure: for example, to reform the criminal unit of the police, to combine the positions of an investigative and operational officer, to introduce a clear system of evaluation according to the criteria for the quality of work, and only then look at how people.

According to the expert, if effective systems of assessment and disciplinary liability are launched in Ukraine, inefficient law enforcement officers will be fired naturally.

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Krapivin also pointed to the preservation of excessive political influence in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The challenge is one of the largest, especially against the background of the active involvement of law enforcement officers in wartime tasks, as a result of which the bodies of the ministry will long be the key power block of the state responsible for internal security..

" Therefore, today we are engaged in deoligarchization, but at the same time we should not forget that the bodies that have a monopoly on the use of force also need close attention,"

At the same time, he clarified that the EU recommendations are designed for peacetime, and therefore do not include problematic issues of war.. However, the expert does not consider this to be critical if, along with a comprehensive strategic plan for reforming law enforcement agencies, Ukraine has a high-quality state (public) policy on such issues..

" Thus, despite the constancy of the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in wartime conditions, this should not be the result of sporadic efforts of good leaders or grassroots initiative of subordinates, but part of a constant, consistent, effective state policy of wartime,” summed up Yevgeny Krapivin.

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Read more articles by Evgeny Krapivin at the links.