⚠️ Violation Context

🏛️ About

Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC)#

Anti-corruption watchdog whose staff participated in the PIC’s Crimea-recognition vote

The Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC) is Ukraine’s leading anti-corruption NGO, instrumental in creating the country’s core anti-corruption institutions (NABU, SAP, HACC). The organization is documented on CrimeaWatch because its staff member Vadym Valko served on the Public Integrity Council’s second composition and was among the 15 members who unanimously voted on December 16, 2020 to adopt Indicators equating Crimea with Russia.

Why This Profile Exists#

AntAC’s core mission is ensuring compliance with law. The organization monitors legislation, tracks official conduct, and advocates for accountability mechanisms — all premised on the principle that legal standards, including constitutional provisions, must be respected.

Yet AntAC’s staff member voted to adopt integrity criteria that treat occupied Ukrainian territory as jurisdictionally equivalent to the Russian Federation — contradicting the very constitutional framework that AntAC’s anti-corruption work is designed to protect. The contradiction mirrors that of Bihus.Info: an organization that demands legal compliance from others tolerates its own personnel’s participation in constitutionally questionable methodology.

Controversies and Criticism#

Anti-corruption mission vs. constitutional violation. AntAC’s entire institutional purpose is to ensure officials comply with the law. Its staff member’s participation in adopting PIC criteria that contradict constitutional provisions on territorial integrity creates a tension between the organization’s mission and the civic activities of its personnel.

December 16, 2020 vote. Valko was among the 15 unanimous voters who adopted the revised Indicators equating Crimea with Russia. This was not passive association but active institutional action.

Institutional Participation in the PIC#

AntAC was admitted to the assembly forming the third composition by HQCJ decision No. 40/zp-23 of 27 July 2023, identifying it by registration code 38238280, but no AntAC delegate was elected to that composition. It was admitted again by decision No. 138/zp-25 of 21 July 2025 and delegated Mariia Horban and Dmytro Tuzov to the fourth composition, both jointly with other organizations.

The Public Integrity Council is not a legal entity with a will of its own: it consists of twenty members placed there by civic organizations, and its Indicators of Integrity are adopted by those members. Participation in forming the Council is therefore a different and stronger relationship than employing someone who serves on it, and it is recorded here separately.

This does not allege that the Anti-Corruption Action Center has made any statement recognizing Crimea as Russian territory, and delegation is not a vote. The delegates vote on the Council’s conclusions; the organization does not. What is documented is the act of participation, established by published state acts and the Council’s own rosters, and the absence of any public objection to the methodology applied.

Nomination Record#

In the assembly that formed the Council’s fourth composition in 2025, the organization put forward 2 candidates and 2 were seated. Its nominations overlapped with those of the Institute of Legislative Ideas and the Centre for Economic Strategy. Across the assembly as a whole, twelve organizations submitted 41 nominations covering 24 distinct people for 20 seats, and 14 of the 18 members elected were nominated by two organizations at once.

Cross-nomination is permitted by the procedure and is not in itself irregular. It is recorded here because the authority of the Council’s Indicators of Integrity rests on the breadth of the body that adopts them, and the published candidate tables are the only public measure of that breadth. See Who Vetted the Vetters for the full arithmetic.

Response and Corrections#

The Anti-Corruption Action Center may submit a response or a correction request to [email protected]. Submissions are assessed against the underlying sources. Where a statement on this page is shown to be inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, the profile is amended and the correction is recorded.

CrimeaWatch does not publish responses verbatim and gives no undertaking to reproduce them. What a verified response changes is the content of this profile.

Summary#

AntAC is documented on this site for its institutional tolerance of a staff member’s participation in the PIC’s December 16, 2020 vote equating Crimea with Russia. As Ukraine’s foremost anti-corruption organization, AntAC’s credibility depends on its commitment to constitutional standards — a commitment structurally undermined by its personnel’s involvement in methodology that contradicts constitutional territorial integrity provisions.

ℹ️ What Else We Know

👥 Leadership

📅 Activity Timeline

📋 Documented Instances