Yarema began his career in the 1980s in the Soviet Union's Ministry of Internal Affairs and later held different positions in the Ukrainian Interior Ministry before getting involved in politics — first at the municipal level and then, in 2012, as a member of the Ukrainian parliament. Poroshenko appointed Yarema as prosecutor-general in June 2014 amid widespread public expectation that former President Viktor Yanukovich and his allies would be prosecuted and reforms would be enacted to root out corruption. However, Yarema did not meet the public's demands for rapid and large-scale action against Yanukovich's camp. He also opposed elements of the country's law on lustration — the purging of government officials once affiliated with the Communist Party and the Yanukovich government — based on the lustration measures' potential unconstitutionality and unintended consequences.
Furthermore, Yarema was unpopular with Kolomoisky, the influential oligarch from Dnipropetrovsk. The emergence of a new government and the continuation of fighting in the east have boosted Kolomoisky's importance. He controls assets in various sectors and, as governor in Dnipropetrovsk, has been instrumental in maintaining order and preventing the rise of separatism there.
For Kolomoisky and Ukraine's other top oligarchs, gaining influence in the prosecutor-general's office is important; it helps to avoid legal challenges and to direct the course of legal action against rivals. However, Kolomoisky and Yarema reportedly had disagreements regarding the prosecutor in Kolomoisky's home region. Moreover, in November, the prosecutor-general's office under Yarema summoned two of Kolomoisky's deputies for questioning. Kolomoisky also saw Yarema as a Poroshenko loyalist at a time when the president and the oligarch were competing for influence within the government, despite their political alliance. Therefore, Poroshenko's decision to accept Yarema's resignation after extensive public lobbying by Kolomoisky's allies in the Ukrainian parliament indicates that Kolomoisky's position in Kiev is growing stronger.
The choice of Shokin as Yarema's replacement illustrates the challenges to anti-corruption efforts as well. Although he served as Yarema's deputy, Shokin was also deputy prosecutor-general during the Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yushchenko presidencies. Shokin has handled high-profile corruption and criminal cases in the past, but his years of experience also make him a political insider appointed prosecutor-general at a time when the Ukrainian public is pushing for visible, large-scale investigations and successful prosecutions of corrupt officials. Shokin's status as a trusted insider was confirmed during his parliamentary confirmation vote: The three successor parties to Yanukovich's Party of Regions joined most members of Poroshenko's party and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk's People's Front party in voting for his appointment.
Ukraine's economic crisis and the fighting in eastern Ukraine have contributed to a relatively high degree of unity among the country's Western-oriented political parties. The ruling coalition will be united on most major issues, especially national security and measures to ensure that Ukraine continues complying with the International Monetary Fund to receive financial assistance. However, Yarema's resignation and Shokin's confirmation as prosecutor-general indicate that the dynamics of power are shifting within the coalition and that fulfilling the public's demands for anti-corruption measures is still a challenge. In the long run, these shifts could widen the divisions within the governing coalition.
