And here's Christopher Miller's own report for RFE/RL on the NABU imbroglio:
Ukrainian Reform Activists Derail Effort To 'Destroy' Anticorruption Body
KYIV -- Ukrainian activists and reformist lawmakers worked tirelessly overnight to remove a bill from parliamentary consideration that they say would "destroy" the nation’s only independent investigative body by dismissing its chief.
By the morning of December 7, after hours of frantic calls to Western allies for support, they had won a small victory in a battle that looks set to continue: The legislation was not on the Verkhovna Rada’s agenda for that day.
The highly controversial bill, which would see Artem Sytnyk, the head of the National Anticorruption Bureau (NABU) of Ukraine removed, was authored by lawmakers from the parties of President Petro Poroshenko and former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
Critics, including former officials who have quit the government in frustration or been dismissed, have accused Poroshenko of blocking reform efforts.
Activists and lawmakers said the bill had seemed certain to pass until Ukraine's Western backers, concerned by recent backsliding on reform efforts, stepped in.
IMF, World Bank 'Deeply Concerned'
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank both said late on December 6 that they were worried about attacks on Ukrainian anticorruption institutions.
"We are deeply concerned by recent events in Ukraine that could roll back progress that has been made in setting up independent institutions to tackle high-level corruption," IMF chief Christine Lagarde said in a statement on December 6.
The World Bank's office in Ukraine expressed its concern in a separate statement, saying attacks on anticorruption bodies "threaten their ability to fight corruption and recover stolen assets."
The two institutions are among financial contributors that have provided a $40 billion bailout package to help Ukraine reform its economy after the Euromaidan protests pushed Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych from power in February 2014.
But billions of dollars in IMF loans have been delayed due to what is seen as backtracking on reform commitments, even as Kyiv -- amid an ongoing war with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine -- has sought closer integration with the EU and increased foreign investment.
'Undermining Public Trust'
The IMF and World Bank concerns echoed those aired by U.S. and European Union officials who have warned Ukraine this week against moves that would hinder its fight against entrenched corruption, something Western governments say is crucial to Kyiv's efforts to resist Russian efforts to destabilize the country.
"It serves no purpose for Ukraine to fight for its body in Donbas if it loses its soul to corruption," U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was quoted as saying in a statement on December 4, referring to the conflict with the Russia-backed separatists who hold parts of two eastern provinces. "Anti-corruption institutions must be supported, resourced, and defended."
The State Department said on December 4 that concerns about Ukraine’s commitment to fight corruption were raised by actions that "appear to be part of an effort to undermine independent anticorruption institutions," adding that such moves “undermine public trust and risk eroding international support for Ukraine."
Viral Campaign
Activists and lawmakers who oppose the bill credited each other’s efforts and a fast-moving, viral social media campaign for getting it removed from the parliamentary agenda. They mobilized online using the hashtags #savenabu, #supportnabu, and #standfornabu.
Among those who took notice was Michael Carpenter, senior director at the U.S.-based Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.
“If the Rada votes to dismiss the head of the Anticorruption Committee and the head of the NABU, I will recommend cutting all US government assistance to #Ukraine, including security assistance. This is a disgrace,” he tweeted.
The Canadian ambassador to Kyiv, Roman Waschuk, wrote on Twitter that if the bill passed there would be consequences in terms of international economic support.
Vitaly Sych, editor-in-chief of Novaya Vremya, a top Ukrainian news magazine, said that "never over the last three years have the Ukrainian authorities fought anticorruption efforts so openly as today."
'Long-Standing Conflict'
The creation of NABU has been hailed as one of the crowning achievements of the Euromaidan movement. NABU's supporters say its demise would mean the end of true anticorruption reform.
The legislation was drafted as the long-standing conflict between NABU and the Prosecutor-General's Office deepened.
Last week, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko unmasked an undercover NABU agent who had been involved in operations to take down allegedly corrupt officials and members of parliament and foiled a seven-month sting operation being carried out by the bureau to curb suspected corruption in the State Migration Service.
Lutsenko claimed NABU had exceeded its legal authority.
After the bill was removed from consideration in parliament, NABU issued a statement thanking the Ukraine's international allies and backers for their support in the fight against corruption.
“Looks like this specific battle for anticorruption is won. Though this is definitely not the end,” said Olena Halushka from the Anticorruption Action Center.
With reporting by Reuters
Nice headline
Belarusians Fighting On Both Sides In Eastern Ukraine
Belarusian volunteers have been fighting on both sides of the Ukrainian government's war with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. But when they return to Belarus, their treatment may depend on which side they backed. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
Here's a look-ahead from our news desk to today's meeting between Sergei Lavrov and Rex Tillerson:
Ukraine Tops Agenda Of Tillerson, Lavrov Talks At OSCE Meeting
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov plan to meet for face-to-face talks about Ukraine's conflict on December 7 during the annual Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
The Russian and U.S. officials were expected to discuss their differences over a proposal to send armed United Nations peacekeepers into eastern Ukraine in order to bolster the unarmed OSCE monitors who are already deployed there.
Moscow and Washington disagree over the mandate that the proposed UN force would have.
The Kremlin says the UN mission should have the powers to protect OSCE monitors in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed separatists are fighting Ukrainian government troops.
But Western powers fear President Vladimir Putin wants to limit the force’s mandate in a way that any cease-fire would merely consolidate the gains of Russia-backed separatists.
Tillerson has said Washington wants the proposed UN force to have additional peacekeeping powers. That could include the authority to disarm Russia-backed separatist militias in eastern Ukraine.
On December 6, a day before the start of the two-day Vienna conference, Tillerson said at NATO headquarters in Brussels that "Russia’s aggression in Ukraine remains the biggest threat to European security."
He was referring to Moscow's seizure and illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and Russia’s support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
"We prioritize ending the violence," Tillerson said. "That’s our first priority, and to seek to do that we need to put a peacekeeping force in place."
The OSCE has deployed 600 unarmed monitors in eastern Ukraine to investigate and discourage cease-fire violations. They often come under fire from the warring factions.
In Moscow, the Foreign Ministry indicated that Lavrov would also highlight NATO military deployments on the alliance’s eastern flank during the OSCE gathering.
Andrei Kelin, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's European Cooperation Department, told Interfax on December 7 that he expects contacts and talks at the OSCE gathering to help deescalate tensions in relations between Russia and the West.
"First and foremost, we see the OSCE Ministerial Council as a space for dialogue and the restoration of trust, which has paramount importance amid the currently confrontational atmosphere in European security," Kelin said.
OSCE Secretary-General Thomas Greminger said ahead of the two-day meeting that the risk of military confrontation in Europe is rising amid tensions between NATO and Russia.
Foreign ministers and senior diplomats from the 57 OSCE member countries and 11 partner states were also expected to discuss ways to promote human rights and media freedom, and to fight against terrorism.