Home » News » the war – The oligarch who discovered Zelenskyj

the war – The oligarch who discovered Zelenskyj

– I don’t think Zelenskyj has been dependent on Kolomoiskyj in recent years, he has done a lot to mark his distance from him. The latest move to strip him of his citizenship is probably part of this, says Jørn Holm-Hansen, Ukraine expert and senior researcher at the Urban and Regional Research Institute NIBR at OsloMet, to Dagbladet.

The relationship between Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskyi (59) again characterizes the news picture in the war-torn country, after the president last week abruptly stripped his old partner and benefactor of his citizenship.

MALICIOUS: The satirical poster from the 2019 election campaign has the message “Servant of the oligarch, puppet of the oligarch”. Photo: Jurij Djatjsjyn / AFP / NTB
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Appeasement

Former journalist, now government adviser Serhiy Leshchenko tweeted on Thursday a list of ten people who lose their Ukrainian citizenship. In addition to Kolomoiskyi, the pro-Russian oligarch Vadim Rabionvych and member of parliament Ihor Vasylkovskyi from the president’s own party People’s Servant also appear on the list, according to the newspaper Kyiv Independent.

– Why is Kolomoiskyj and other oligarchs being stripped of their citizenship now?

– This is a central question: How many goodwill gestures is Zelenskyj now making, who is he trying to appease, says Holm-Hansen and elaborates:

– Some will probably lose it for Zelenskyj to appease the nationalist wing in Ukraine, those who supported [tidligere president] Petro Poroshenko during the elections in 2019. He probably also has a desire to show the world that Ukraine is cleaning up its internal problems. As for Kolomoiskyj, it has been a burden for Zelenskyj that the two have been accused of close contact – how close I don’t quite know.

Discovered through TV series

Kolomoiskyj also holds Israeli and Cypriot citizenship. In 2012, he was ranked Ukraine’s third richest man by Forbes, according to Kyiv Post.

“The country is steeped in corruption, nepotism and oligarch rule.”
Jørn Holm-Hansen, Ukraine expert and researcher

The 59-year-old made contact with Zelenskyj after the then-actor and comedian had a smash hit with the TV series “Servant of the people” – where he just plays a layman who suddenly becomes president of Ukraine.

Holm-Hansen says that the production company Kvartal 95 – which was behind “People’s Servant” and was run by Zelenskyj and his friends – was broadcast on a channel owned by Kolomojskyj.

UKRAINE EXPERT: Jørn Holm-Hansen is an expert on Ukraine and a political scientist.  Photo: Sonia Balci / OsloMet

UKRAINE EXPERT: Jørn Holm-Hansen is an expert on Ukraine and a political scientist. Photo: Sonia Balci / OsloMet
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– And it was Kolomoiskyj’s closest associate, Andrij Bohdan, who in 2016 asked for a meeting with Zelenskyj when both were in Odesa. The two talked for hours together – Bohdan wanted Zelenskyj to stand as a presidential candidate in the next election, because of the series’ enormous popularity, he explains and states:

– So there is a link between Kolomoiskyi and Zelenskyi that Ukrainian journalists and others, especially critics of the president, have put a lot of emphasis on.

– All this paints a picture of Ukraine as a country with a lot of corruption and nepotism?

– The country is permeated by corruption, nepotism and oligarch rule. It worries many ordinary Ukrainians, who are tired of it. That is why they voted for Zelenskyj; he is perceived as an ordinary man, who is not in the pocket of oligarchs, does not belong to the eastern Ukrainian slightly Russian-friendly oligarch clan, and is also not a member of the nationalist wing, answers Holm-Hansen.

Scandals

– Is there any substance to the claims that Kolomoiskyj has had control over Zelenskyj?

REQUIRES STOP: Yevgeniy Protsyuk (36) demands that Switzerland must stop facilitating Russian oligarchs. Reporter: Ralf Lofstad. Photo/video: Nina Hansen.
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– It’s a bit unclear. In recent years, Zelenskyj has done a lot to mark his distance from Kolomoiskyj. Kolomoiskyj had hoped that Zelenskyj would give him back a bank that had been nationalized, but that did not happen. On the contrary, laws were passed which particularly affected this oligarch, Holm-Hansen replies and continues:

– The People’s Servant party went to the election claiming to be non-corrupt and without oligarch ties – but it didn’t take long before scandals emerged, that representatives allowed themselves to be bought by oligarchs, and sold themselves to the highest bidder, like many other parliamentarians.

According to Reuters In the 2019 election, Zelenskyj was considered by many critics as Kolomoiskyj’s candidate. The oligarch was at this time living in exile abroad, due to conflict with incumbent President Poroshenko, and wanted a comeback. His personal lawyer Andrij Bohdan was appointed Zelenskyi’s election campaign manager and eventually chief of staff, but was later fired.

RELATED: Zelenskyi's now-fired chief of staff Andrij Bohdan (th) during a meeting in parliament in 2019. Bohdan was formerly Kolomoiskyi's personal lawyer.  Photo: The President's office / Reuters / NTB

RELATED: Zelenskyi’s now-fired chief of staff Andrij Bohdan (th) during a meeting in parliament in 2019. Bohdan was formerly Kolomoiskyi’s personal lawyer. Photo: The President’s office / Reuters / NTB
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Zelenskyj, who had Kolomoiskyj’s media empire at his back, made a snap election. According to the think tank Atlantic Concil it could seem that the newly installed president removed people from the government apparatus who were considered to pose a threat to the oligarch’s interests, among them the first Prime Minister Oleksyj Hontsjaruk.

Oligarch register

The political scientist maintains that the president has tried to intervene with the oligarchs.

– In September last year at the latest, preliminary guidelines were adopted which were supposed to limit the power of the oligarchs – but this was put on hold with the outbreak of war. Now they continue and introduce a register of oligarchs who have a certain amount of wealth and holdings in the mass media, he explains.

– They are trying to get more transparency about who supports which politicians in the Ukrainian system. It has been a problem that oligarchs have financed various projects, that they have ensured that political decisions have gone in their favour.

Holm-Hansen states that Serhij Leshjenko – former journalist and now adviser in the government – has written about the problem.

– He writes that the oligarchs have had influence regardless of who has been in power: Yanukovych, Yushchenko, Poroshenko.

Investigated in the USA

Gradually, the relationship between Zelenskyj and Kolomoiskyj soured, especially after the American authorities launched an investigation and implemented sanctions against the oligarch.

According to Pittburgh Post-Gazette Kolomoiskyj is accused of massive tax evasion linked to properties he allegedly bought with money embezzled from Ukrainian PrivatBank, which he helped found. The evasions are said to have cost hundreds of American steelworkers their jobs.

I KYIV: Norway is increasing its support to Ukraine by NOK 10 billion over two years. The money will go to humanitarian aid, reconstruction of the country, weapons and operating support for the authorities. Video: Marie Røssland / Dagbladet
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Last spring, when the US sanctions were announced, Zelenskyy responded with a declaration that “Ukraine must overcome a system dominated by oligarchs,” according to Atlantic Council.

From the American side, the removal of Kolomoiskyj’s citizenship is interpreted as an attempt to improve Ukraine’s image abroad, as it may now be easier to have the oligarch extradited to the United States.

– It is possibly a response to this latest expression of concern over corruption in Ukraine. If this is true, it’s a big deal. Ukraine is of course fighting for its life, says former Ukraine ambassador John Herbst to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

A week before the Russian invasion in February, Zelenskyj stated that he no longer has contact with Kolomoiskyj, according to Ukrainska Pravda.

Stricter in Russia

Political scientist Holm-Hansen points out that the oligarchs have so far had a much freer hand in Ukraine than in Russia.

– The oligarchy in Ukraine has continued to be as it was in Russia and the Soviet Union. In Russia it has not been like this since 2000, when Vladimir Putin summoned the oligarchs and gave them guidelines: They could continue business, but had to do this in line with government policy. They were not allowed to support political parties and organizations that were strongly critical of the Kremlin, he says.

– But in Ukraine, the oligarchs have continued somewhat in the same way as it was in Russia in the 1990s. On the other hand, this leads to a certain pluralism: Because the country is so complex, there is a change of power at almost every election – one year the regime is pro-Western, but after the next election more pro-Russia. The oligarchs have supported those they believe are most responsive, regardless of their political profile.

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