Kolomoisky is on the US sanctions list, but remains untouchable at home – Atlantic Council

Experienced Ukraine watchers raised a skeptical eyebrow two years ago when Volodymyr Zelenskiy won a landslide victory in the country’s presidential election. support for Igor Kolomoisky, perhaps the most controversial oligarch in Ukraine, “the author notes.

Clarke emphasizes that Zelensky appointed Andrey Bogdan, personal lawyer for Kolomoisky during the election campaign his key advisor, and also repeatedly traveled abroad to confer with Kolomoisky, who was in exile, and enjoyed the support of his media.

“Unsurprisingly, many viewed Zelenskiy as Kolomoisky’s candidate. In the two years since then, nothing has happened to change that assessment, even as Zelenskiy is reviving his commitment to ‘de-oligarchisation’ in an attempt to boost his waning popularity.” Kolomoisky was included in the US sanctions list earlier this year due to allegations of corruption, but apparently at home he remains untouchable. He has not yet regained control over PrivatBank, which was nationalized in 2016 after $ 5.5 billion disappeared from its balance sheet due to alleged fraud. But Zelenskiy also failed to return these assets, as required by the IMF, “the analyst writes. …

Government officials who were considered a threat to Kolomoisky’s interests were removed from their posts, including ex-prosecutor general Ruslan Ryaboshapka, who was investigating the oligarch, as well as former chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine Yakov Smoliy and Zelensky’s first prime minister Oleksiy Honcharuk. who tried to weaken Kolomoisky’s control over the state-owned electricity company.

Hints of the president’s ongoing personal ties to the oligarch surfaced again in February 2021, when Zelenskiy violated COVID-19 restrictions to celebrate his birthday at a private party. arranged in the house of Kolomoisky’s ally Timur Mindich. Zelenskiy’s actions as president suggest that his approach to countering the influence of Ukrainian oligarchs can be selective at best. The bill, which forms the basis of its recently unveiled de-oligarchisation policy, contains a definition of “oligarch” that encompasses wealth, influence and asset ownership, which some suspect was formulated specifically to exclude Kolomoisky from his terms, “Clarke said.

At the same time, attacks on the influential political enemies of Zelensky – Putin’s godfather and the people’s deputy from the OLSZ Viktor Medvedchuk, as well as the fifth president and the people’s deputy from European Solidarity, Petro Poroshenko – continue, he emphasizes.

“Meanwhile, Kolomoisky has been accused of helping Zelenskiy settle scores and undermining the influence of potential rivals. One of them is Vitali Klitschko, a former world heavyweight boxing champion and current mayor of Kiev, who is often called a potential future presidential candidate after successful re-election in the Ukrainian capital last year.Klitschko became a constant thorn in the eye of Zelensky, often criticizing the president’s actions in connection with the COVID-19 crisis, including his failed vaccination program.Klitschko even tried to organize an independent purchase of vaccines from the city budget. intensified attacks on Klitschko, and the mayor’s friends and allies became the targets of police investigations.Klitschko himself complained about the harassment after in May armed officers of the Ukrainian Security Service broke into his apartment building“, – reminds the author.

Kolomoisky may have also played a role in helping Zelenskiy undermine Klitschko’s role as head of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, he notes.

“Dnipro Mayor Boris Filatov and his ally Gennady Korban, both old associates of Kolomoisky who have now come to terms with the oligarch after a falling out with him, recently played an important role in helping the President’s Office to create a rival organization of local municipalities from which Klitschko is expelled. Commentators are considering the initiative. as an attempt to neutralize Klitschko’s influence at the national level and, possibly, to position Filatov as a future “technical candidate” in order to get support from the mayor of Kiev on the eve of the next presidential elections in Ukraine, “the article says.

The analyst believes that Kolomoisky’s influence not only threatens democracy, but also casts doubt on the reliability of economic reforms and the fight against corruption.

“Kolomoisky’s desire to regain control of PrivatBank, which is now preparing for privatization, continues unabated. Zelensky’s changes in the NBU leadership last year risk weakening his independence in banking supervision to the point where Kolomoisky’s ambitions become achievable. If so, Ukraine will take a serious step back. Zelensky’s relationship with Kolomoisky should be seen as the most important test of his sincerity in achieving de-oligarchization of Ukraine. Only by decisively breaking with his patron, Zelensky will be able to fulfill his promise to the people of Ukraine “to destroy the traditional oligarchic order and replace it with a fairer a system that will allow Ukraine to flourish, “Clarke writes.

Otherwise, there will simply be a “cynical restructuring” of the oligarchic power, as a result of which the country will not be able to break with its past, he is convinced. In this regard, the expert believes, Western leaders should use the visit to Ukraine for the 30th anniversary of independence to provide a clear benchmark by which the results of Zelensky’s reforms will be assessed.

“In other words, de-oligarchization without considering Kolomoisky is not at all de-oligarchization,” concluded David Clarke.