During his first trip to the United States since taking office, Ukraine’s new prime minister Volodomyr Groysman appeared—as his rabbi described him—as “a man of action who doesn’t talk too much but gets a lot done.” Groysman, 38, was elected in April after months of government infighting and festering corruption under previous prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
Upon his election, Ukraine’s youngest-ever prime minister vowed to take on populism, corruption, and bad governance. While some were hopeful Groysman would bring Ukraine closer to the EU and unite conflicting government factions, others feared that his alliance with President Petro Poroshenko would mean more of the same: politicians propping up oligarchs.
Appearing at the National Press Club in Washington on Thursday, Groysman—with a translator at bay—promised to tackle corruption and boost foreign investment.
“Corruption poses a great threat to Ukraine, because due to corruption there are no opportunities for transformation and no future for our country,” he said. “No one will invest a penny in a country with an environment of corruption.”
Groysman remained optimistic about implementing political and economic reforms, without which Ukraine will not continue to receive portions of its $17.5 billion bailout from the IMF.
“It is Ukraine that needs reforms, not the IMF that needs reforms,” Groysman said. “Macroeconomic stability and economic growth are top priorities of our government.”
He detailed a long list of policies meant to attract foreign investment, including deregulation, privatizing state companies, and adapting the law of the European Union. Groysman was equally enthusiastic about an array of anti-corruption reforms Ukraine implemented or planned to, including the advent of a new National Anti-Corruption Bureau and various judicial reforms.
But he said his country’s problems also extend beyond its borders, which themselves remain uncertain.
Confronted with Donald Trump’s suggestion that NATO should be reconstituted, Groysman gave perhaps his only hint of a smile of the press conference. The day before, NATO granted Ukraine desperately needed aid for its years-long fight against Russia in the east.
“Ukraine … has encountered unprecedented aggression from Russia in the 21st century. Our peninsula of Crimea was annexed and the Russian troops invaded the Ukrainian territory of Donbass,” he said. “In times like this, it is very important for the civilized world to maintain a responsible attitude.”
Groysman also rejected the legitimacy of opinion polls in Crimea, the Russian-annexed peninsula, which showed that a high percentage of the population is happy with their new national status.
“Crimea is Ukraine. No opinion poll can serve as a basis for change of borders of sovereign nations in the 21st century,” he said. “It would be interesting to see the results of similar opinion polls if we could hold them in every region and in every oblast of the Russian Federation. I wonder what the results would be.”
Groysman started his political career at 28 as mayor of the Ukrainian city Vinnytsya. During his tenure, he rehabilitated the city’s infrastructure and grew close to Poroshenko, whose confectionary empire is based there. Groysman then served as speaker of the parliament until he was elected prime minister.
