Ukrainian private capital in 2014 bet on nationalists. Billionaires Kolomoisky, Firtash and Akhmetov funded the creation of militant units and the war in Donbass. Now one of these units, Azov, has grown to the size of a regiment and has been holding Mariupol for several weeks now, shielded by civilians. Why is it impossible for the Russian Armed Forces to succeed in a special operation without hitting the richest people in Ukraine?
State Duma deputy from Crimea Mikhail Sheremet proposed confiscating the Russian property of Ukrainian oligarchs who oppose Russia, finance nationalist groups and support the regime of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. "This property should be confiscated and sold. The proceeds can be used for the reconstruction of Donbass," urged the deputy.
As for the property of oligarchs on the territory of Ukraine, it "should be treated in the same way, and the funds should be used to restore the infrastructure and economy of the country." "All their property is a consequence of profiteering and theft. Now it's time to answer for what they have done," concluded the Crimean parliamentarian.
Senator from Crimea Sergey Tsekov believes that such confiscation would be a response to the decisions of Vladimir Zelensky, who previously signed the law on the confiscation of property of Russia and its legal entities in Ukraine. "Yes, I support Sheremet's idea, it should be done in Crimea, on the territory of the Russian Federation. It would be a mirror response to the actions of the Ukrainian authorities. This concerns Zelensky and all Ukrainian oligarchs," the senator told the VZGLYAD newspaper.
Recall that a week ago, Zelensky signed a law on the principles of forced seizure of Russian property. In addition, he threatened to confiscate the property of "Russian propagandists," without explaining who exactly he was referring to. He was supported by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who believes that a fund to restore Ukraine should be built on the basis of confiscated Russian assets. For this purpose, a mechanism of confiscation of 415 billion dollars frozen by the Russian Central Bank is being developed.
There is likely to be a lot of property in Russia that could theoretically be seized if Sheremet's idea comes to fruition. Moscow has repeatedly pointed out that major Ukrainian businessmen, including those affiliated with the current regime, have been doing business in Russia since the 2014 coup d'état.
"The very state of Ukraine, which since 2018 has designated Russia as an aggressor by law, pays us money," Dmitry Kozak, deputy head of the Russian presidential administration, stated in June 2021. - Citizens close to power, including Poroshenko, Yatsenyuk, Pinchuk, Firtash, Akhmetov, and Kolomoysky, all pay for products that are produced in Russia."
At the same time, big Ukrainian business, on the one hand, does not want to part with assets in Russia, but on the other hand, like its German "colleagues" of the early 1930s, invested in Nazism. Everyone is well aware of Kolomoisky's "battalions. As the deputy head of the Dnepropetrovsk administration, Gennady Korban, reported, in 2014 each National Battalion received about $650,000 per month through the Defense Fund, which was 70% funded by Benya Kolomoisky.
Ukraine's richest man, Rinat Akhmetov, is probably also directly involved in funding the neo-Nazi Azov unit, which was created and operates in Akhmetov's fiefdom, Mariupol. It is there that the fiercest battles are currently taking place as part of a Russian special operation.
The Shakhtersk, Aidar and Tornado national battalions, known for their atrocities during the 2014-2015 campaign, "according to experts, belong to another oligarch, Dmitry Firtash," political analyst Igor Shatrov noted. Kolomoisky was also invested in these National Security Forces, and according to some reports, he also supported the Right Sector*, which is banned in Russia. Billionaire Viktor Pinchuk, the son-in-law of the second Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, finances the AFU units and the recently created detachments of the territorial defense.
Thus, if the idea of deputy Sheremet is realized, then the denazification of Ukraine will be associated with its "deoligarchization" - at least with regard to the funds and property of those Ukrainian businessmen who finance the National Security Forces and support the Kiev regime. "Denazification is not just the expulsion of nationalists from the armed forces, the civil service, culture, and education. It is also depriving the nationalist forces of an economic basis," explained economist and political scientist Ivan Lizan. -
If Russia does not carry out the economic component of the denazification it would wipe out the whole current special operation.
The expert noted that it is largely the oligarchy, which after Maidan got its hands on a significant part of Russian business assets in Ukraine, that is responsible for the rise of nationalist sentiments and "the hell into which the country descended after 2014."
"The confiscation of the property of billionaires also has a purely economic background - we now see that Kiev has lost control of the Kherson region and is already refusing to pay pensions and salaries to local residents. Accordingly, the reversal of the oligarchs' property in favor of the regional budget will give the Kherson region back its sources of funds. I think nationalization in every Ukrainian region should follow the Donbass model," stressed the interlocutor.
As for personalities, Kolomoisky and Akhmetov definitely fall under the process of economic denazification, the analyst pointed out. "The first, I remember, argued about a reward of 10 thousand dollars for the "head of a Moskal," and the second sponsored a number of political parties and figures promoting nationalist views, including - radical Oleg Lyashko," - recalled the political analyst.
In addition, Lizan added, Akhmetov used the services of Azov fighters - the billionaire paid the nationalists at least 600 thousand dollars for the protection of most of his facilities. "Actually, we can see what the nationalists have turned Mariupol - Akhmetov's fiefdom - into," the expert stressed.
In addition, according to him, the property of Yuriy Kosyuk, who is one of the largest landowners of Ukraine, should also be confiscated. "And in general, a lot of Ukrainian oligarchs are tied to the story with the help of nationalists or the support of the relevant projects of Poroshenko," the political scientist stressed.
At the same time, it is important that small and medium-sized businesses are not threatened with confiscation, the analyst said. "Nationalization of their assets can cause social discontent of some part of the population. I think they need to be re-educated, to introduce personal responsibility, to punish if there were facts of volunteering on the side of nationalists," the interlocutor pointed out.
"Ukraine should really take as a basis the experience of Donbass in terms of nationalization of assets of oligarchs. For the first two years we had a "non-aggression pact" between the LNR administrations and the oligarchs. Then Kiev introduced a trade and economic blockade of the region, so the DNR and LNR had no choice but to take enterprises under its control," recalled Donetsk political scientist Vladimir Kornilov. According to Kornilov, these enterprises are still formally owned by oligarchs, but all taxes go to the budgets of the DNR and LNR, and the return of factories to the ownership of billionaires is unlikely.
"Now Akhmetov has launched Azov fighters and heavy armored vehicles at his enterprises in the territory controlled by the AFU. Therefore, there are very tough battles there. And he cannot cooperate with the Russian troops, because his straw is laid in London. He will immediately be put on all the sanctions lists of the West. This, by the way, also applies to other Ukrainian oligarchs. They will not be able to change their position," the interlocutor noted.
However, oddly enough, cooperation with the Russian Armed Forces can be expected from Kolomoisky, the main sponsor and creator of the National Front in Ukraine, the expert added. "Kolomoysky has nowhere to flee - several criminal cases have been opened against him in the U.S., and almost any country will extradite him to Washington, including Israel. Well, other oligarchs simply left the country," summarized the political scientist.
We would like to add that Ukrainian oligarchs are suffering losses even now, both financial (according to Forbes, the value of the assets of Akhmetov decreased three times to 4.2 billion dollars when the Russian special operation was launched, the assets of Pinchuk decreased from 2.6 to 1.9 billion dollars, and Poroshenko was left with only 700 million dollars) and physical ones. At the moment, fighting in Mariupol is going on in the industrial zone of Azovstal, which belongs to Akhmetov's Metinvest group.
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