“We look forward to the renewal of the Bureau’s work, the strengthening of the institution, and the achievement of a significant level of trust between the Bureau and Ukrainian entrepreneurs,” Svyrydenko wrote on social media.
The EU’s ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Mathernova, reacted positively, saying: “I welcome appointment of Oleksandr Tsyvinskyy as Director of ESBU — a key reform for [EU] accession and IMF benchmark.”
The bureau investigates economic crimes and is especially important during wartime, Tsyvinskyi previously told POLITICO, when it must monitor Western aid and safeguard scarce public funds by cracking down on economic crime.
The government previously cited Tsyvinskyi’s father’s Russian citizenship as grounds for refusing his appointment, even though he previously acquired Ukrainian security clearance and has not spoken to his father in years.
Svyrydenko said last week that Tsyvinskyi would undergo polygraph testing before his appointment. Anti-corruption activists denounced the move as legally baseless and a face‑saving gesture after weeks of unjustified government stalling.
In late July, Kyiv stripped the country’s anti-corruption agencies of their independence, triggering the first wartime anti-government protests at home along with a wave of public condemnation from partners abroad.