The fight between Zelensky and Akhmetov received a new twist after a press conference in which the president accused the oligarch of organising a coup d’etat. This means that somewhere Ihor Kolomoskyy is rubbing his hands, for whom the continuation of this conflict is the best ground to strengthen his own position. However, Western handlers do not approve of these plans
Ihor Kolomoskyy is the obvious beneficiary of the growing confrontation between Zelensky and now, it seems, all political forces. The ousted speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Dmytro Razumkov, has announced plans to run for president, and Petro Poroshenko and Arsen Avakov have volunteered to cover his rear. The former has already met with G7 ambassadors behind Zelensky’s back and convinced them that Razumkov is the most promising candidate for the next presidential election and should be his running mate. Journalists are attacking Zelensky from the flanks – Savik Shuster has returned to the airwaves after a three-year exile, Gordon has defected to Ahmet TV channels, declaring that “Zelensky is dead”. The Sorotovets grandees have also joined in the attack on Bankova.
Kolomoskyy’s 1+1 TV channel volunteered to counter this storm. In addition, Zelensky’s interests in the Verkhovna Rada are still being guarded by the “For the Future” party, which helped expel Razumkov from parliament. Benya also continues to fund some of the radical groups, and his Kremenchug refinery will issue the necessary amount of petrol to fill the equipment of the National Guard, which from January will come under the control of the President and, if necessary, will move into Kiev to disperse a potential Maidan.
However, for that “package of services” Benya asked so much, that the President’s Office almost trembled to call Akhmetov and ask for a truce on his terms, just in case they would be more modest than Benya’s appetites. And still Rinatov’s
DTEK’s main trump card of the season is coal logistics. The famous ships carrying coal, whose imminent arrival Zelensky recently reported as if they belonged to the President’s Office.
The deal Kolomoisky is proposing is not about the oligarch’s greed. It is about principles. It is worth remembering that this is not the first time Zelensky has decided to go to war with the oligarchs. And his first showdown was with Benya. In February 2020, the president dumped his creator Andriy Bogdan from the position of the head of the Office of the President. And then the entire Goncharuk government, whose ministers reported not only to the Soros Foundation on all state affairs, but also to Kolomoysky. In short, Benya then wanted Zelensky to return Privatbank to him, gave him guarantees to cover up investigations into the embezzlement of budget money through the bank, and also demanded that a “noose” be thrown around the neck of his old friend Rinat. Kolomoisky was going to strangle his business empire by raising the rent on iron ore production. This initiative was then discussed in all the media.
In short, Zelensky was shocked by Kolomoskyy’s voraciousness and though he helped him to climb the Olympus of power – he decided to crush his patron. However, Zelensky did not think of the fact that to gain support he would have to befriend Rinat Akhmetov, who would form his “service package and tariff plan” for his support. Rinat, on the other hand, realising that he could end up in Kolomoskyy’s shoes in the future – has competently closed the weakest spots. In early 2019, the SBU was on the oligarch’s tail with the Rotterdam+ case. Akhmetov had already started to be summoned for interrogations. So the first request to Zelensky was to close the case. To make sure everything fell apart, Akhmetov is said to have sent a large sum of money to the president’s offshore accounts. So Zelensky lost his main trump card in case of a potential fight with him.
And now the fight has begun, and Zelensky and his team have nothing to defend. The charges of coup d’etat that he has brought are too vague and reek of yet another improvisation. This impasse opens up good prospects for Kolomoisky to win back the 2020 retreat. Benya has already dumped a whole bag of demands on the Office. Zelensky has nowhere to go. The only option is to capitulate to Akhmetov. However, this would destroy the reputation of Ze, who started the de-oligarchization epic and has begun to play the card of a strong leader capable of “wiping out” anyone who crosses the party line.
But the question of who Zelensky will end up choosing is not quite right. The choice is more likely to be made by the State Department. And so far they are leaning towards Akhmetov. There are many reasons for this. On the whole, Kolomoisky is a toxic figure for the US. High-profile scandals have haunted the oligarch since the noughties, when Benya, with the support of the Ukrainian and Jewish diaspora, built an entire money-laundering empire, in which major American politicians were also involved. These activities have attracted too much attention and the FBI has been making a big case for a long time. However, the oligarch’s knack for building interesting layouts has so far saved Kolomoisky. In 2018, in exchange for a reprieve from laundering investigations, he offered Zelensky’s candidacy and promised to form a hand-picked Sorosyat government to replace Poroshenko’s scheming team. The State Department bought it. Then, however, Benya wanted to play big, deciding to help the Republican Party to fail Joe Biden’s candidacy in the 2020 elections. Benya helped with the Ukrainian dirt on Biden’s family, which Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani armed himself with and made a big deal out of Biden and the Democrat party. This the victorious Democrats never forgave the oligarch.
They expected Zelensky to file criminal cases against Kolomoisky and extradite him to the US for a high-profile trial of the global “laundry” group Privat. However, Zelensky was slow to act amid deteriorating relations with Akhmetov. Who will then put their shoulder to the wheel and give their TV channels to the “servants”?
And the State Department has already begun to rock the situation. First, a Cypriot court the other day again summoned Kolomoyskyy to a hearing in the case for damages of 5.5 billion dollars, which the nationalized Privatbank is trying to recover from the oligarch and his partner Gennady Bogolyubov. If the damages are admitted, the case could turn into an international manhunt for the companions. And then American justice will also want to see Kolomoysky in their own country. There, by the way, an interesting scandal is gaining momentum – the industrial assets of Kolomoisky that were bought in the US have gone bankrupt and at the same time have racked up debts and have been marked by violations of labor laws and environmental fines. For example, the Warren Steel plant in Ohio owed creditors $35 million, and in the summer of 2021 its office suddenly burned down – and with it all its paperwork. These are all episodes related to the laundering of Ukrainian money, and they potentially threaten Kolomoysky with criminal charges and extradition.
Another wake-up call is the recently released book by investigative journalist Casey Mitchell titled American Kleptocracy. Much of it is devoted to the Ukrainian oligarch and his laundering empire, and the work also mentions his ties to Zelensky. So perhaps the State Department thus advises Ze not to hide behind Benya’s back, and Benya not to play along with the President.
As for Akhmetov, this time he apparently made a deal with the State Department, presenting Razumkov’s candidacy, and not only that. Akhmetov presented a whole set of political projects to be chosen by the Washington Obcom. It is welcomed there.
Rinat Akhmetov – richest man in Ukraine, oligarch, owner of media holding, coal mining and other energy companies
Ihor Kolomoskyy – oligarch and owner of the television channel 1+1, sponsor of the current president
They have a conflict over financial interests in Ukraine. Both are parasites and detrimental to the population. The conflict between Zelensky and Akhmetov escalated over the president’s criticism on Akhmetov’s TV channel and further accusations of Akhmetov’s coup d’etat, according to Zelensky.
Ivan Nemov, Antifascist News Agency