“They’re stronger anyway,” he said of Moscow. “We have to improve our relations. People want peace, a good life, they don’t want to be at war. And you” – i.e. the United States – “are forcing us to be at war, and not even giving us the money for it.”

That’s not what a parade of State Department personnel are telling the House intelligence committee these days. To a person, they agree that the US policy is tip-top, exemplary, brilliantly designed to help poor little Ukraine get back on its feet and fend off Russian aggression. Yet here was a Ukrainian oligarch saying the opposite: that Washington is using Kiev for its own selfish ends and that Moscow is looking better and better by comparison.

“You won’t all take us,” Kolomoisky said of NATO and the Ukraine’s long-standing bid for membership. “There’s no use in wasting time on empty talk. Whereas Russia would love to bring us into a new Warsaw Pact.”

Then came the kicker: if Kiev ends up joining forces with Moscow, then “Russian tanks will be stationed near Krakow and Warsaw. Your NATO will be soiling its pants and buying Pampers.”

Where the Polish-American strategist Zbigniew Brzezinski once advised using a pliant Ukraine to encircle Russia, Kolomoisky was now warning that Russia might join with the Ukraine in encircling Poland.

What makes this all the more extraordinary is that Kolomoisky is not some minor player, but the power behind the throne of an increasingly beleaguered Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zelensky, of course, is the comedian who began his climb to fame on a Kolomoisky-owned TV channel known as 1+1 and who then used his hit sitcom, “Servant of the People,” a show about an ordinary man running for president, to launch his own real-life presidential bid. Zelensky ran on an anti-corruption platform just as the fictional Zelensky did on TV, and he won handily just as he did on TV as well. It’s proof that if Paris was the surrealist capital of the world in the 1930s, Kiev is the same today.

The result is to make Zelensky doubly or even triply beholden to his former business partner. The New Yorker reports that he’s flown thirteen times by private jet to Geneva and Tel Aviv where Kolomoisky has homes. His fellow traveler on many of those flights, it adds, was Andriy Bohdan, Kolomoisky’s lawyer and now the president’s chief of staff. According to Ukrainian press reports, eleven members of Zelensky’s parliamentary faction may have accepted bribes of up to $30,000 to block an anti-corruption measure aimed at a Kolomoisky ally named Anton Yatsenko.

Then there’s Valeria Gontareva, former head of the Ukraine’s central bank, whom Kolomoisky’s supporters helped drive out of town in 2017. This was after she wrested away control of a financial institution known as PrivatBank from which Kolomoisky had allegedly looted $5.5 billion and all but driven into insolvency. After Zelensky took office in May, a car plowed into the 55-year-old Gontareva as she was crossing a street in central London, putting her in a wheelchair. After that, someone set fire to her son’s car in Kiev. Then someone torched her family home.

“Revenge,” Gontareva calls it. Zelensky stayed mum while one of his old 1+1 pals regaled audiences with a satirical song about a house burning down and a woman “weeping in London.” Suggesting that the attacks were fake, Alexander Dubinsky, a 1+1 veteran who is a member of Zelensky’s parliamentary faction, urged his 130,000 Facebook followers to begin a letter-writing campaign to get Gontareva fired from the London School of Economics where she is on a fellowship.

All of which suggests that Kolomoisky is not the type to forgive or forget and that Zelensky is not the type to rein him in. If so, then Kolomoisky’s comments about US-Ukrainian relations are the opinion not of a lone individual, but of a major faction of the Ukrainian ruling class.

This is worth keeping in mind as one impeachment witness after another pillories Donald Trump for supposedly undermining the Ukraine. Based on Kolomoisky’s remarks to the Times, it’s not Trump who’s responsible for the Ukrainian disaster, but decades of US policy. By pumping in $5 billion to “insure a secure and prosperous and democratic Ukraine,” as former State Department boss Victoria (“Fuck the EU”) Nuland put it, the US triggered a cascade of events that were little short of catastrophic. It encouraged the Nazi-spearheaded 2014 Euromaidan coup, which took a weak state and rendered it even weaker by triggered a parallel revolt in the Russian-speaking east. It tossed out a corrupt pro-Russian president named Viktor Yanukovych and brought in the pro-American president Petro Poroshenko, who may have been even worse. Now it has brought in Zelensky, a nice guy who may well prove to be the most disastrous of all because he seems to be little more than a stand-in for an oligarch so outrageous that he puts all other oligarchs to shame.

It’s not as if the experts weren’t warned. Back in 2014, when the New York Times was celebrating Kolomoisky as a hero of the battle against anti-Semitism, the liberal Israeli daily Haaretz described him much more accurately as a crude mob boss who spews profanities and insults; who keeps a massive shark-filled tank in his office so he can toss in live shrimp and watch how visitors react to the resultant feeding frenzy, and who was once spotted wearing a T-shirt with the inscription “Zhidobandera” – a double insult aimed at Jews (“Zhid” is an ethnic slur) and Ukrainian nationalists (known as “Banderovtzi” by opponents because they worship the World War II Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera).

Vladimir Putin issued a similar warning around the same time. Kolomoisky’s crookedness, he said, was “unique.”

“He even managed to cheat our oligarch Roman Abramovich two or three years ago,” the Russian president observed of the billionaire owner of England’s Chelsea soccer team. “Scammed him, as our intellectuals like to say. They signed some deal, Abramovich transferred several billion dollars, while this guy never delivered and pocketed the money. When I asked, ‘Why did you do it?’ he [Abramovich] said, ‘I never thought this was possible.’”

But who listens to Putin? And who bothers to read Haaretz? If the Russians said that Kolomoisky was a no-goodnik, the State Department assumed that he had to be the opposite. But now that he turns out to be precisely the gonif that Putin said he was, the experts are blaming Trump, Zelensky, and Russia – everyone and anyone, that is, except themselves.

Among Western foreign policy establishment elites, a growing realism has developed on the shortcomings evident in Ukraine. This reality partly explains the somewhat limited Western mass media coverage of the just completed Ukrainian presidential election, when compared to the ones that brought Viktor Yushchenko and Petro Poroshenko to power.

Notwithstanding, there’re some holdouts who cling to an inaccurate impression. Paul Goble’s April 21 Eurasia Review presentation of Russian and Belarusian jealousy over Ukraine’s’ presidential election, is part of an ongoing misread on the standing of the three former Soviet republics, who trace their history back to Rus. As has been true with a number of his other pieces, Goble (in this one) uncritically references the questionable opinions of some others. Upon his victory, the newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pretty much said the same thing, about Ukraine as a role model for some other parts of the former Soviet Union.

This depiction echoes what the late Zbigniew Brzezinski said of the so-called Orange Revolution back in 2004. At the time, Brzezinski spun a democratically spirited Ukraine eventually having a positive influence over Russia. Over the course of the post-Soviet period, a segment of the US foreign policy and media establishments have overhyped Ukrainian positives (real, exaggerated and false), while disproportionately highlighting the negatives in Russia and Belarus (real, exaggerated and false). The April 22 Imran Khan hosted Al Jazeera show Inside Story, with Valentin Yakushik, Uly Brueckner and Dmitry Babich, is an eclectically healthy break from the idealistic BS presented elsewhere. (I can’t quite say the same about the April 22 Nick Schifrin hosted PBS NewsHour segment with Matthew Rojansky.)

In his aforementioned Eurasia Review piece, Goble portrays a lively political discourse between the two main candidates (Zelensky and Petro Poroshenko) for Ukraine’s presidency. This take overlooks the limits of that dialogue, in addition to ignoring some other tangential factors. If anything, Ukrainians in Ukraine are more jealous that Russia has a president who has (to some noticeable degree) stood up to the oligarchs. Related to this point is the fact that since the Euromaidan in late 2013 (as well as beforehand), more Ukrainian citizens have migrated to Russia than Russian citizens moving to Ukraine.

Likewise, Belarus has relative stability when compared to Ukraine. The level of Russian economic assistance to Belarus is a contributing factor to this situation. Note that the Russian-Belarusian relationship has included Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko periodically making provocatively negative comments about Russia. Yet, his presidency remains in tact, which is a far cry from an overreaching great power, overthrowing the leader of a much smaller nearby country, because of the latter’s lack of subservience.

Within reason, Ukraine’s newly elected president is seen as a front for the major Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky. Zelensky’s predecessor Poroshenko fits the image of of an oligarch. Let’s see if Zelensky will break from that trend. For now, it’s quite premature to see him and his country as a positive model for Russia and Belarus.

As for the matter of political diversity (brought up by Goble), Russian President Vladimir Putin, has over the years faced live confrontational comments and questions from numerous individuals, including Megyn Kelly, George W Bush and Yuri Shevchuk. Putin has also had such interactions with accredited Ukrainian journalists. One case in point being Putin’s live end of year press conference in 2018. Compare that dialogue with the Kiev regime’s support for banning Russian media in Ukraine.

Regarding the rebel held Donbass territories, Zelensky’s call for an “information war” is an ill-advised term. War is the direct opposite of peace. Part of his appeal is the belief that he might’ve a better chance for ending the Donbass conflict than Poroshenko. It’s foolhardy to believe that the rebel Donbass areas will succumb to the predominating Kiev regime slant via an increased propaganda campaign. Rather, some creative give and take, serves as a more successful option for bringing piece to the former Ukrainian SSR. Just how and when this could happen is something for Zelensky and his team to work on.

* * *

Some tycoons, especially from the party of Yanukovych, suffered damage as a result of torn economic ties with Russia, the loss of control over enterprises and war devastation. Engineering, metallurgy and coal mining were hardest hit. Renat Akhmetov had been the richest man in Ukraine, his wealth dwindled by two times. But he had enough influence in Kiev to make his enterprises in the Donbass suffer minimal damage. The forces of Novorossia could destroy them, but they didn’t. In September 2014 they did not attack the large port of Mariupol used by Akhmetov to export metals to Europe. Forbes wrote his wealth was $6, 9 billion. Combat actions were not the only reason for his losses. World steel and ore prices fell. Victor Pinchuk, the uncle of Leonid Kuchma, suffered greatly. He specialized on the production of pipes and railway wheels. His Stakhanov ferroalloy factory happened to be located in the combat area. Privat group owners Igor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov were accused of using raid tactics to grab Pinchuk-owned Krivorizh iron-ore concentrate production facility. The court procedures dragged on without result. Picnhuk compensated the losses. The support of Maidan movement helped him to make the European Union lift import duties on pipes to compensate the losses suffered in 2013. Pinchuk also increased the profit from TV channels he owned against the background of general downturn of advertisement market by 19%. 

Dmitry Firtash, another tycoon, also financed Maidan. Going through hard times, he minimized the losses. In March 2014 he was arrested by Austrian police upon the request of FBI. He was suspected of involvement in corruption schemes and organized crime. 

The Yatsenyuk government took a decision not to use the gas bought by Firtash, but it did not kill his business. For a long time the Firtash-owned factory Stirol was the only enterprise left intact by Ukrainian military in Gorlovka. The tycoon had personal problems with Yulia Timoshenko. She applied efforts to keep him away from go-between schemes enacted to import Russian gas. Being a sponsor of Yatsenyuk, he pulled punches to get under his control Dneprovsky Magnesium Plant, Volnogorsky Mining and Metallurgical facility and Irshan mine processing plant. 

* * *

Not all tycoons suffered damage. Yury Kasyuk, the owner of MHP Company increased his wealth. With no import duties he boosted poultry exports to Europe. Poultry consumption increased in Ukraine by 19% as population preferred poultry to other kinds of meat. Kosyuk and Firtash held in their possession the enterprises in Crimea which have become large agriculture complexes of Russian Federation. 

All achievements of Yury Kosyuk pale before Igor Kolomoisky, another predator who managed to survive and take advantage of the coup. He was the leading sponsor of Maidan and neo-Nazi groups that made up the main striking force to overthrow Yanukovych. Kolomoisky was not only the governor of Dnepropetrovsk. He had his people ruling Odessa, Nikolayev and Kherson regions. He armed and funded battalions of punishers who brutally repressed people in the Donbass. They are notorious for plundering, kidnapping and mass murder. Some of the crimes were described in the reports of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. At the initial phase of combat operations they used the Kolomoisky-owned Privat bank’s collector cars as armor vehicles. The neo-Nazi Pravy Sector has its headquarters in Dnepropetrovsk. In the days of Yanukovych rule many members of this organization were accused of involvement into terrorist activities. 

As a sign of gratitude the new powers that be turned a blind eye on Kolomoisky’s raiding activities. Privat Bank owned by Kolomoisky and Gennady Bogolyubov has become unsinkable. The so-called «war tax» was gathered through the plastic cards of this bank. After the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics were proclaimed, Privat remained for a long time the only bank to make transfers under the conditions of blockade. In 2014 Privat bank got the lion’s share of state subsidies after the West delivered financial aid for economic restoration of the country. 

By the end of March 2015 Kolomoisky tried to grab Ukrnafta and Ukrtransnafta. It sparked a scandal. He used Pravy Sector armed gangs as his personal army. Actually he declared a war on the President of Ukraine. Having lost the war and the position of governor, he left the country. Still some compromise was reached on economic issues. Kolomoisky has preserved some leverage over the government. He controls «his» members of parliament that won thanks to votes rigging and threats of violence against election committees. It makes one conjecture that the empire of Kolomoisky, the second richest man in Ukraine after Rinat Akhmetov, will not only avoid collapse, but will thrive under the conditions of crisis. 

* * *

The new President of Ukraine has greatly enriched himself. Before the election he had promised to sell his assets. He failed to keep his word, no matter he cooperated with one of Rothschild structures on the matter. His Roshen confectionery corporation increased the profit in 2014 by nine times. The International Investment Bank owned by Poroshenko increased its capitalization by three times against the background of the national banking sector’s collapse. Only Valeria Gontareva, the head of National Bank, and General Prosecutor Vitaliy Yarema did better. A very indicative composition of Ukraine’s banking sector’s leaders. 

The main thing for those who represent the new Ukraine’s rulers is personal well-being. No matter Poroshenko and Kolomoisky are at war, the Ukrainian President is the holder of $50 million deposit in Privat Bank. That’s why he promised to prevent any problems for the bank’s operations. Bogdan Motors car maker belongs to Poroshenko. It enjoys perks. For instance, it can change the trolleybuses prices after tenders before they are delivered to regional capitals and Kiev. The President could not stand against the temptation to buy a 1, 1 hectare large lot at the price of around $8 million in the elite Kiev district called Tsarskoe selo near Kiev Pechersk Lavra. The Kiev city hall gave land lots to Poroshenko’s companions for free. 

The hostile rhetoric does not prevent Poroshenko from paying taxes in Russia where he has his chocolate business. The Roshen factory in Mariupol stopped production, part of equipment was moved to Lipetsk. The evacuation has expedited recently as Ukrainian army started to shell the positions of Novorossia forces deployed in the vicinity of the city. This haste shows that combat actions may be renewed soon by government forces. Poroshenko does not want to risk his property. 

* * *

The war unleashed by the government in the eastern part of Ukraine resulted in death and impoverishment of common people. At the same time it opened great prospects for personal enrichment of government, those who are close to it and tycoons. The higher is position, the more profit a person makes. 

The United States is seriously concerned over stand-offs between tycoons in the country under its control. The influential New York Times believes that the dispute between Poroshenko and Kolomoisky «emphasized the potential threat that private militias pose to the fragile new government». Ukrainian experts are concerned even more. They believe that if Poroshenko and Kolomoisky do not iron out the differences before Easter (or even Passover), then the current system of power will be totally destroyed to entail the loss of statehood, the paralysis of economy and fierce information war. Ukraine will collapse if the incumbent government has to go. 

Sergey Leshchenko, a parliamentarian from the bloc of President Poroshenko who has studied in the United States as a grant-aided student, admitted that the new law, which allowed Naftogas, a state company (or the one that belongs to Poroshenko), to get control over Ukrneft to spite Kolomoisky, was adopted according to the instructions coming directly from Washington. The Ukrainian leaders got a call from the US. They were told, «Esteemed Mr. President and Mr. Prime Minister of Ukraine, we, the government of the United States of America, gather the money paid by American taxpayers to give it to you, the miserable Ukraine’s government, which is unable to neither implement reforms, nor collect money from tycoons. Why should we, American taxpayers, support you, if you are so impotent and unable to make tycoons pay what they should to fill the budget?» That’s how Leshchenko interprets the events. By the way, he predicted the end of the governor’s career after Kolomoisky used obscene language talking to a Radio Svoboda journalist. Svoboda exists thanks to taxes paid by American citizens. A portion of this money goes to Ukraine. Leshchenko was sure that the US government would not like it. By and large, that’s what happened. Sergey Leshchenko and the like don’t think the situation degrades Ukraine in any way. Moreover, they welcome the system of governance from outside, that’s something they pin their hopes on. They hardly see any other way their country could get out of the quagmire it has plunged into. 

The Ukraine’ security forces operation to seize the building of Ukrtransnaft held by the formations under Kolomoisky’s command was the culmination of the tycoons’ war. Media outlets reported that the armed groups of volunteers loyal to Kolomoisky leave the front line for Dnipropetrovsk to organize protests there. US ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt directly interfered into the conflict. He told Kolomoisky to come to the embassy where he told him in no uncertain terms who was the boss in Ukraine. According to Pyatt, he told the rebellious tycoon that the United States supported the decisions taken by Ukrainian parliament related to Ukrtransnaft. Kolomoisky immediately agreed and assured the American vicegerent that as the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region he fully supported the unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Pyatt had an important leverage – the Kolomoisky’s financial interests in the West. The American ambassador told him bluntly that the climate favorable for international investments, including the money coming from the United States, as well as the business opportunities for Ukrainians themselves, will depend upon the primacy of law. Under the given circumstances, it meant that Kolomoisky had to put up with the measures taken against him. It’s funny that Pyatt was talking about the progress achieved by Ukraine since the days of Yanukovych – the days when the «law of the jungle» ruled the country, as he put it. But jungle is what the country is becoming today and this jungle may turn into prairies – the land where dashing cowboys feel at home. 

Kolomoisky is a seasoned warrior. He had to retreat, but he never gives up. It means the wars between tycoons will not stop. The Kolomoisky’s puppet MPs declared war on Poroshenko. Those who belong to the team of former Dnipropetrovsk governor lambaste President Poroshenko for failing to keep the word he gave during the election campaign when he promised to sell his business (first of all the Lipetsk-based Roshen factory and the 5th TV channel). They accuse the President and Valeriya Gontareva, the head of the National Bank of Ukraine, of having used the financial instability in the country to their advantage filling the pockets with billions of dollars. They say the President does not keep his word because he promised the European Union to make Ukraine accede to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. It has not been done. They say he does not do it being afraid to face justice for mass killings of civilians in the Donbass. Poroshenko failed to carry out the reform of tax collecting bodies and law enforcement agencies. According to them, the President pushed through the budget that did not meet the people’s interests as it lowered social standards. He delays the creation of Ukraine’s anti-corruption bureau. The President exerts influence when it comes to high-profile cases, including his opposition to declassifying the information related to the case of journalist Gongadze allowing those behind the crime to avoid responsibility. Ukrainian journalists call the strife between the two clans «showdowns in tycoons dive». 

It’s worth to note that no matter all that, the Ukraine’s regime feel certain discomfort related to the US growing meddling into the country’s internal affairs and its full dependence on the overseas sponsor. It makes appear stories that sound plausible enough telling that not Washington only but also Moscow was behind the Kolomoisky’s dismissal. Media spread around information that Putin himself demanded that Kolomoisky be fired as it was tacitly envisioned by the Minsk accords. 

It has become a kind of schizophrenia; they blame Moscow for each and everything that goes wrong in Ukraine. One can agree with the opinion of some Ukrainian experts who say that, no matter what happened to Kolomoisky, the government cannot really challenge the existing system because the rule of tycoons is what the state of Ukraine is based on today. This system was supported by Americans during the Maidan events. The attacks against individual tycoons, even if upon the command from the White House, don’t really change anything.

Until the dispute burst into the open last week, the governor, Igor V. Kolomoisky, had been among the Kiev government’s staunchest allies. Militias financed privately by him have played a crucial role in stopping pro-Russian separatists waging war in the east from advancing into the heart of Ukraine.

That alliance, however, appeared to be in jeopardy as Mr. Poroshenko and Mr. Kolomoisky clashed in recent days over the future of the two companies, UkrTransNafta and Ukrnafta, and as the president announced that he would take steps to incorporate militias like those controlled by Mr. Kolomoisky into Ukraine’s regular military.

The enmity comes as Mr. Poroshenko remains under tremendous pressure to demonstrate stability in spite of the continuing war and a collapsing economy that is being bailed out with tens of billions of dollars in international financing.

As the animosity rose on Monday, Mr. Poroshenko ordered the Ukrainian state security service to arrest armed men, believed to be loyal to Mr. Kolomoisky, who have occupied the offices of UkrTransNafta and its parent company, Ukrnafta, in Kiev, the capital, since late last week.

Some prominent lawmakers called for Mr. Kolomoisky to be dismissed from his post as governor of Dnipropetrovsk, while at least four members of Parliament announced that they were quitting Mr. Poroshenko’s party, apparently out of loyalty to Mr. Kolomoisky.

At the heart of the dispute is a law passed by the Ukrainian Parliament last week that reduced Mr. Kolomoisky’s power as a minority shareholder in the companies and permitted a management change that he had previously blocked.

Late Thursday night, masked men with guns swept into the offices of UkrTransNafta, apparently in support of the dismissed chief executive, Oleksandr Lazorko, an ally of Mr. Kolomoisky, who has refused to leave.

Mr. Kolomoisky emerged from the building soon after, to say his men had just thwarted an attempt by “Russian saboteurs” to take control of UkrTransNafta. Confronted by journalists about his unusual presence there at such a late hour, Mr. Kolomoisky cursed at them in a ferocious diatribe that was captured on video, as was the raid itself.

The government says there was no attempted sabotage.

Mr. Kolomoisky’s ability as a minority shareholder to control management decisions is an example of the murky dealings between the government and the country’s richest business titans that have hobbled the Ukrainian economy for years.

More alarmingly, however, the dispute has emphasized the potential threat that private militias pose to the fragile new government.

Highlighting that risk, Mr. Kolomoisky in his remarks to reporters noted that on his command, 2,000 armed men could be brought to Kiev within hours. Still, the commander of Mr. Kolomoisky’s main paramilitary group, Dnepro-1, denied any involvement.

By Monday, no armed men were visible outside, though the group loyal to Mr. Kolomoisky apparently still occupied the building. Valentin Nalivaichenko, the director of the security service, told reporters on Monday that his agency would help the police arrest the men occupying the building.

“We confirm that the police and journalists have noticed illegal actions by people with weapons” in the capital, Mr. Nalivaichenko said. “We have a strict order from the president that every person in UkrNafta be disarmed.”

In another sign of mounting tensions, Mr. Nalivaichenko said his agency had also questioned two subordinates of Mr. Kolomoisky in the Dnipropetrovsk governor’s office, about their possible roles in the murder of one Ukrainian security agent and in the kidnapping of another.

Dnipropetrovsk is widely considered Ukraine’s most important industrial region, and its capital of the same name, located about 300 miles southeast of Kiev, is the country’s fourth-largest city. Mr. Kolomoisky was one of several oligarchs, considered too rich to bribe, who were appointed to leadership positions in a bid to stabilize Ukraine.

In a statement posted on his website Monday in response to the standoff, Mr. Poroshenko said the volunteer battalions should be “vertically integrated” into Ukraine’s regular army, which the government has been struggling to rebuild.

Mr. Kolomoisky, widely known as a pugilistic character even as he is admired for his patriotism, has shown no signs of backing down. In an interview on the 1+1 television station, which he owns, Mr. Kolomoisky said he had spoken to Mr. Poroshenko and they had agreed “that this is not the way this should happen.”

Critics of Mr. Kolomoisky, however, said his actions showed his first allegiance was to his own wealth. Mustafa Nayem, a young member of Parliament from Mr. Poroshenko’s party, urged the president and Prime Minister Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk to oust Mr. Kolomoisky.

“Igor Kolomoisky has no right to wear the title of a public servant,” Mr. Nayem wrote in a blog post. “And the president and prime minister have all the levers to correct the error.”

Russia-insider.com, This article originally appeared in The New York Times

After the coup of 2014 the «natural selection» process in Ukraine abruptly accelerated. Some of oligarchs, like Dmitry Firtash, for instance, drop out of the race with others about to join them. Rinat Akhmetov once was the leading oligarch in Ukraine, now he has left the world 100 wealthiest people list. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index brought him down from 88^th to 121^st position. In a year he has lost $4, 3 billion to make him worth $ 9, 6 billion. 

Now Petro Poroshenko and Igor Kolomoisky are reaching the final. It’s hard to assess the state of Poroshenko’s business after the inauguration, but some information about Kolomoisky has become public domain. 

Here is the latest news. The Kolomoisky company’s shares went down by 25% on February 19 at London stock exchange. JKX Oil & Gas plc (JKX) is a Britain-based hydrocarbon exploration and production company listed on the London stock exchange. Kolomoisky is the co-owner of Eclairs Group Ltd…Eclairs which holds 27.47% of JKX shares. In May 2014, Nigel Moore, the JKX chief executive, wrote in a letter to shareholders saying that Eclairs, a British Virgin Islands registered company controlled through a complex web of offshore trusts, is ultimately 59.1 per cent owned by Igor Kolomoisky and 40.9 per cent by Gennady Bogolyubov and family. The JKX shares abruptly went down by 34% in the middle of the day. As the working day was over the drop was 25% in comparison with the shares stock price in the morning. According to Reuters, the JKX market capitalization was $90 million in early February. The company operates primarily in Ukraine (85% of revenue). It also has assets in Russia, Hungary and Slovakia. JKX Oil & Gas owns Poltava Petroleum Company which holds four licenses to develop oil and gas fields that are part of the Novomykolaivsky complex in Poltava region. It also has three exploration permits: for the Zaplavske, Yelyzavetivske and Chervonoyarsko-Skhidne fields. Experts believe a Russian company brought the JKX shares down. Russian investment firm Proxima Capital Group said on February 19 that it did not plan to make an offer for JKX Oil & Gas Plc, two weeks after announcing its intention to consider an offer. The reasons behind the decision are clear. JKX has been seriously losing its positions the recent year. The stock had fallen 73 percent or $250 million in the 12 months to Feb. 4.

Kolomoisky invested in JKX a few years ago hoping to convert millions into billions in a short period of time. The company planned to make profit exploring and developing shale deposits. In 2013 it launched the largest in Europe shale gas project. Experts said it would lead to ecological disaster with implications involving Russia and other neighboring countries of Europe. The wave of chaos that hit Ukraine hindered the process. The fall of oil prices made the project unprofitable. 

Here is another story related to Kolomoisky, the citizen of Israel, and JKX, the company he controls. The company said on February 16 that it had commenced arbitration proceedings against Ukraine under the Energy Charter Treaty, bilateral investment treaties (with Great Britain and the Netherlands) for the repayment of $180 million related to the production of oil and gas. JKX is seeking repayment of more than $180 million in rental fees that its Ukrainian subsidiary has «illegally paid» on production of oil and gas in Ukraine since 2011. The company’s statement says «In these proceedings, JKX is seeking compensation for the losses it has suffered from Ukraine's treaty violations, including Ukraine's failure to treat JKX's investments in a "fair and equitable" manner and failing to comply with commitments made by Ukraine in respect of JKX's investments.» The bilateral treaties protected from increasing tax burden or any other «game changes» in the Ukraine’s oil and gas sector. Ukraine imposed royalties on the production of gas by JKX's Ukrainian subsidiary in excess of the rate of 28% (as opposed to the 55% rate that is currently applicable under Ukrainian law). There were other payments imposed. In 2014 the Ukrainian parliament temporarily increased royalty for extraction of gas from 28% to 55% (from depths less than five kilometers) and then the parliament prolonged the requirement for 2015. The company said in its report posted on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) on February 16 that in support of JKX's claims against Ukraine under the Energy Charter Treaty an Emergency, Arbitrator appointed under the Arbitration Rules of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce had already issued an Emergency Award on 14 January 2015 ordering Ukraine to refrain from imposing the royalties. Ukraine did not respond. It’s funny that Kolomoisky, who represents the Ukraine’s ruling regime in the capacity of Dnepropetrovsk governor since March 2014, files claims to this very regime. So what? He is accustomed to make money using «administrative resources.» If the international arbitration court will grant the petitioner’s request to defend the rights of Kolomoisky and Bogoliubov (the company’s Ukrainian beneficiaries), then Kolomoisky will use all the «administrative resources» at his disposal to make Ukraine comply and pay all the due «compensations». 

Igor Kolomoisky is a bright example of parasite sucking the state budget. Here is the recent example. Naftogas is the national oil and gas company of Ukraine involved with extraction, transportation, and refinement of natural gas and crude oil. It has subsidiaries with Naftogas holding 100% of shares. Ukrnafta is the most known subsidiary with 51% of shares under Naftogas control. Formally Ukrnafta is a state company but actually Kolomoisky controls it. On February 10, Ukrnafta Kolomoisky-controlled management team filed a claim with the district administrative court of Kiev against the Ukrainian government, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and the Ministry of Energy asking that four representatives of national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy be removed from the auction committee on the sale of oil, gas condensate and liquefied natural gas of national origin. The representatives were appointed in accordance with the government’s decision of December 16, 2014. 

Sergey Leshchenko, a member of parliament, revealed the reasons behind such strange behavior of the state company. According to him, for many months Kolomoisky sold the Ukrnafta assets at sham auctions held at a pocket stock exchange. There they were acquired at the starting price with 15% discount by Kolomoisky-controlled firms without competition. At each auction the oligarch saved and the company lost 0, 5-1 billion hryvnas. Leshchenko said Kolomoisky cannot have the discount anymore. He was prevented from holding an auction with 15/1 hryvna to dollar rate (the real rate is 23/1). Now Ukrnafta wants to sabotage another auction with oil sold at market price. Actually Ukrnafta deprives itself of additional revenue. But it’s not as absurd as it seems to be, the matter is that the state company openly protects the interests of «patriot» Kolomoisky. 

Kolomoisky has suffered great losses in recent years and lost a lot of wealth. He lost $2 billion in the Crimea besides his assets in Russia and the south-eastern part of Ukraine. According to Forbes, Kolomoisky's worth was 1, 3 billion dollars (in comparison with $2, 4 billion two years ago). He loses wealth, but other Ukrainian oligarchs lose wealth even faster. He demonstrates great resourcefulness to compensate the losses. The man is cunning and merciless. Perhaps he’ll devour another big parasite, like Poroshenko, for instance. And then what? 

There will be nothing to devour. The Ukraine’s economy and the state will be finally destroyed. According to experts, the economy may go down by 10-20% this year. Then parasites of different – world – caliber will expropriate the property accumulated by Kolomoisky as a result of plundering. The contemporary Ukrainian expropriators will be expropriated in their turn. Ukraine and its oligarchs are a good example for those who is interested in the process of «natural selection» in the world of predators.

The temporary cease-fire is in force as a result of Minsk agreement, but the internal fight between tycoon clans is in full swing. The aim is to get hold of the assets that belonged to overthrown President Yanukovych and his retinue, to confiscate and appropriate what belongs to the supporters of «separatists» (any private property owner from the Donetsk region could be the one), to privatize the titbits of state property, especially economic infrastructure, energy facilities and military industry. The battle for Naftogas, Energoatom, military industry, (especially in view of growing military expenditure), sea and riverine ports, airports and many other assets can undermine the fragile armistice and make the country plunge into the quagmire of further bloodshed. 

Serhiy Taruta, the head of the Donbass Industrial Union and former governor, said he was completely broke. There were times when Rinat Akhmetov was the richest man in Ukraine, now he has only one significant asset left at his disposal – the Mariupol Metallurgical Plant – which is on the brink of bankruptcy. His Ukrtelecom suffered greatly as a result of nationalization in Crimea. The whole empire of Akhmetov ekes out its existence at the expense of Kryvorizhstal-produced iron ore. Dmytro Firtash will be out of business if the country loses its status of the transit route on the way of exporting Russian hydrocarbons to Europe. The company Interpipe founded and owned by Victor Pinchuk cannot shoulder its foreign debt burden. It already exceeds $1, 3 billion. According to experts, Interpipe is facing bankruptcy. Many believe that the return of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma into big politics in the capacity of guarantor of the Minsk accords is an attempt to rescue the business of Pinchuk, his son-in-law who is pressed hard by tycoon Igor Kolomoisky. Zaporizhia (Zaporozhye) clans cannot recover from the losses suffered by well-known Zaporizhia Automobile Building Plant, that had to has stop production, and Motor-Sich (a Public Joint Stock Company in Zaporizhia, one of the largest engine manufacturers for airplanes and helicopters worldwide) is unable to operate at full capacity. The «unfortunate oligarchs» may not be worthy of our pity – in recent years they have transferred at least $100 billion to offshore zones and will hardly die of hunger. The matter is – the formal bankruptcies destroy the economic and technological potential of the country negatively affecting the lives of millions. 

More predator-like and unscrupulous rivals are coming to take the place of East-Ukrainian tycoons. The duo of Petro Poroshenko and Igor Kolomoisky is stepping in. The country is actually divided between the two. The reasons for making these leading clans prevail are obvious. The business climate and all economic indicators are significantly degrading to make administrative power a determining factor as it allows to support allies and put pressure on rivals. Contrary to what he promised, Poroshenko has not given up the ownership of a single enterprise that belonged to him before being elected as President while all his assets started to miraculously bring in huge profits as presidential powers are actively used for this purpose. On his part, Kolomoisky is getting closer to the cabinet led by Arseniy Yatsenyuk and the Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council headed by Oleksandr Turchynov. The control over power agencies plays a big role in the competition as the civil war continues. Poroshenko has the advantage of being the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, but Kolomoisky is the chief sponsor of volunteer armed formations and has some units under his direct command, for instance, the battalions Dnieper, Donbass and some others. 

The conflict of interests between Petro Poroshenko and Igor Kolomoisky to large extent defines the Ukraine’s fate. The stakes are getting higher. The media outlets which belong to Kolomoisky have been trying to paint President Poroshenko as an interim leader who committed an act of national treason by being a party to the Minsk accords. In particular, they actively discuss the issue of President’s business (Roshen confectionary manufacturing group) on the Russian market. They serve as the sources of information about the looming «third Maidan» and inevitable coup. The Poroshenko-oriented media constantly comes up with the stories about Kolomoisky’s dishonest schemes launched to get profit thanks to defence deals and appropriation of state resources. The nucleus of Kolomoisky’s empire – Privatbank – may soon go bust. This issue is also kept in focus by pro-Poroshenko media. The President can rely on the support of other Ukrainian tycoons as Kolomoisky has antagonized many of them. Some experts believe that the Privatbank owner has crossed the red line in his drive to get all the state resources under his control and become the only beneficiary as the property of Yanukovych family is divided. Kolomoisky has come up with an initiative to transfer the property of disloyal «oligarchs» to the reserve fund for anti-terrorist operation that he heads – the gesture to evoke extreme annoyance. The attacks against the Minsk accords launched by pro-Kolomoisky media, politicians and members of parliament are to great extent influenced by the tycoon’s private interests. Billionaire Viktor Pinchuk launched a lawsuit against Kolomoisky in London for over $2 billion in damages for unfulfilled pledges on mining investments. Pinchuk has Leonid Kuchma behind him. By criticizing the Kuchma’s performance in Minsk Kolomoisky attacks Pinchuk as well. Pursuing the same purpose he tries to revive the relatively forgotten case of Gongadze. He wants the related information to be declassified. It may result is giving a start to a large-scale investigation in the Kuchma’s case to involve many supporters of Kolomoisky. The tycoon has also used his pocket media and some members of parliament to get rid of General Prosecutor Vitaly Yarema who was disloyal to him. With a lot of compromise coming to surface the President had to fire the official. 

Poroshenko hit back. He nominated Victor Shokin, the former Kolomoisky’s adversary, for the Prosecutor General’s position. The President’s nominee was endorsed by parliament on February 10. Unlike Yarema, he is a professional lawyer. His biography includes an interesting detail. In 2005 he launched a criminal case against Kolomoisky. 

The system of duumvirate is taking shape and it does not bode well for Ukraine. Those who share power view the country exclusively as a source of income. That’s the result of «Maidan revolution» taking place under the national banner but transferring the power to cosmopolitans. 

Levko Lukyanenko, a Soviet dissident who has served 26 years in prison camps and exile for propagating the ideas of Ukrainian nationalism, has become a fierce opponent of tycoons. He said their guilt was comparable to the largest crimes against humanity that were committed in the XX century. According to him, in 23 years since independence Ukraine has made no progress. To the contrary, it has degraded in all spheres. He wants the oligarchs to be held responsible. Lukyanenko is an inveterate nationalist. He believes that the gist of the problem is that the ruling class was nationalist in all the countries of Eastern Europe unlike in Ukraine where it was «pro-Russian international». To assert its nationhood Ukraine needs «the second phase of Russian Empire’s disintegration.» I wonder what Lukyanenko meant talking about the domination of «Russians» among the ranks of Ukrainian tycoons? Did he mean Poroshenko and Kolomoisky? Until Ukrainian masterminds see the specially invented «dummy targets» as the source of their troubles the people of the country will not become masters in their own house. 

Zionists have long argued that the land claimed by Israel was the biblical birthright of the Jewish people who were forced from the land in a so-called «diaspora» after repeated conquests by various empires. Proof that Ashkenazi Jews, which make up a majority of the Israeli Jewish population, have no historical link to Palestine would call into question the entire premise of Israel as the historical «5,000-year old» homeland of the Jewish people.

The Israeli journalists noted that any conversation of the Khazars and modern Israel has always been met with disdain by Israeli leaders. They quote Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir as once saying, «Khazar, Schmazar. There is no Khazar people. I knew no Khazars. In Kiev. Or Milwaukee. Show me these Khazars of whom you speak». DNA proof that a migratory Khazar population from Europe is now claiming ancient roots in Palestine largely eliminates Zionist claims to the region. 

The evidence that eastern and central European Jews have no historical claim to Palestine has resulted in a flurry of activity in Israel and abroad. The Israeli Knesset will soon vote on a bill passed by the Israeli Cabinet that legalizes Israel as a Jewish «national state». Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who read the secret report on the Khazars, has declared that «Israel is the Jewish, nationalist state for the Jewish people». With the Ashkenazi claims to Israel tenuous, at best, Netanyahu, his Likud Party, and his Jewish Orthodox and West Bank settler party allies have no other choice but to aggressively stake their nationalist claims to not only Israel but also to the West Bank – which the nationalists refer to as «Judea and Samaria».

However, some Israelis and Jews abroad are not taking any chances. One of the main reasons why Ukrainian Jewish billionaire tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky, the governor of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk province and citizen of Ukraine, Israel, and Cyprus, is spending tens of millions of dollars on the recruitment of right-wing Ukrainian nationalists and neo-Nazis from other parts of Europe to fight against the Russian-speaking majority in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, is a fear that plans to turn Ukraine into a «second Israel» will be derailed. Russia’s protective measures for the Donbass, as well as its incorporation by referendum of Crimea, the latter prized by the resurgent Khazarian Jewish nationalists, threaten the transformation of Ukraine into a second homeland for Ashkenazi Jews who are finding their hold on Israel prime tenuous, at best. 

The Times of Israel’s explosive story about the Khazarian roots of the Ashkenazis also revealed that Israel, knowing that a Palestinian state is inevitable considering the increasing pressure for it from Europe, is preparing to resettle Ashkenazi settlers in the West Bank to Ukraine. Israel’s advanced research in genetics resulted in a direct DNA line being established between Israel’s Ashkenazis and the Khazars who were dispersed across eastern and central Europe after Russia conquered the Khazarian Empire in the 11^th century. 

Israelis and their Zionist allies around the world have always accused proponents of the Khazarian-Ashkenazi genetic connection of deep-rooted anti-Semitism. However, the genetic research contained in the secret Israeli report confirms what Israeli historian Shlomo Sand revealed in his book, «The Invention of the Jewish People». The concept of the Khazarian bloodline was first broached by Hungarian historian Arthur Koestler in his 1976 «The Thirteenth Tribe».

The Times of Israel reporters quoted an unnamed aide to Netanyahu who revealed the plans for Israeli emigration to Ukraine: «We first thought that admitting we are really Khazars was one way to get around [Palestinian President Mahmoud] Abbas’s insistence that no Jew can remain in a Palestinian state. Maybe we were grasping at straws. But when he refused to accept that, it forced us to think about more creative solutions. The Ukrainian invitation for the Jews to return was a godsend. Relocating all the settlers within Israel in a short time would be difficult for reasons of logistics and economics. We certainly don’t want another fashlan like the expulsion of the settlers in the Gaza Hitnatkut [disengagement]».

Ostropoler and Grosser-Spass also quoted an anonymous Israeli intelligence source as saying: «We’re not talking about all the Ashkenazi Jews going back to Ukraine. Obviously that is not practical. The press as usual exaggerates and sensationalizes; this is why we need military censorship».

The Israeli and Ukrainian Jewish plan is to resettle the Ashkenazis from the West Bank in the Russian autonomous republic of Crimea after what they see will be an eventual retrocession of the peninsula to Ukraine. The ultimate plans of Ukrainian Zionists such as Kolomoisky, in addition to such American allies as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland and U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt, is to establish an autonomous Jewish region of Crimea and restore to the peninsula the original Khazarian name of Chazerai. Although the Tatars who live in Crimea and elsewhere today are largely Muslims, the plans to create a Khazar nation in Ukraine will also likely involve global proselytization by Israelis and Ukrainians who are bent on restoring Khazaria as an alternative to Israel. Current Jewish proselytization efforts among «crypto-Jewish» Catholic mestizos in Mexico; Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists in India; Russian Orthodox and Buddhists in Birobidzhan, Siberia; Muslims in Pakistan and Afghanistan; and Christians, Muslims, and animists in Uganda, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Malawi; and among small pockets of alleged Jewish descendants in China, Sao Tome and Principe, Tahiti, Suriname, Vietnam, Brazil, and Peru point to an Israeli plan intent on increasing Jewish numbers for the purpose of settlement in a number of locations outside the illegally-occupied West Bank and the Golan Heights. In addition to Ukraine, northern Iraq, eastern Libya, Alexandria in Egypt, parts of Turkey, Patagonia in Argentina, and Uganda are all being considered for potential Jewish settlements to complement the West Bank or replace it. The so-called «Lost Tribe of Israel,» the Bnei Menashe of Mizoram and Manipur states of northeast India are viewed by many Indians as not actually Jewish but desperate economic migrants looking for better lives in Israel. So desperate are the Israeli expansionists to increase their numbers, dubious Jewish DNA studies have attempted to classify the Sorbs of eastern Germany; the Bantu Lemba people of Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Mozambique; and certain groups of southern Italians, Armenians, and Greeks as «lost tribes» of Israel in order to increase Judaism’s numbers and geographical land claims.

In Ukraine, the so-called «second Israel,» Kolomoisky and Kiev have enlisted a number of ex-Israel Defense Force members in their volunteer battalions, including the Azov Battalion, One of the Israeli units is known as the «Blue Helmets of Maidan» and is commanded by an Israeli using the pseudonym «Delta». If Israel did not have a vested interest in expanding its influence in Ukraine it could easily prevent these units from going to Ukraine.

There are also Sephardic Jewish settlers in the West Bank who are descended from the Jewish Marranos of Moorish-ruled Spain who were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula during the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions of the 15th century who have no ties to Ashkenazis or Khazaria. Recently, in a move similar to Ukraine’s invitation to the Ashkenazis from the West Bank to settle in Ukraine, Spain and Portugal have enacted legislation that would permit any Sephardic Jew anywhere in the world who can prove their descent from the Marranos expelled during the Inquisition to obtain citizenship in the two countries. 

Some Russian speakers in the Donbass are wary of the intentions of pro-Israelis in the Kiev government. Oddly, Kolomoisky has recruited a number of neo-Nazis from western Ukraine and Europe to fight in his battalions whose right-wing organizations have always subscribed to the notion of a future «battle royale» between Russia and the remnants of Khazaria in Israel, Ukraine, Poland, and the Republic of Georgia to avenge Khazaria’s defeat in the 11th century by the Russian Empire.

Israel provided the Georgian government of President Mikheil Saaakashvili, which included a number of dual Israeli-Georgian nationals of Khazar descent, with military and intelligence assistance in its 2008 war against South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Similarly, the Israelis have established close ties with Azerbaijan, a country, which like Georgia and Ukraine, has ancient links to Khazaria through an indigenous group of Azeri Jews known as Subbotniks.

The anonymous Netanyahu aide is also quoted by The Times of Israel journalists as revealing why the Israeli government in making a play for large Israeli settlements in Ukraine: «As the Prime Minister has said, no one will tell Jews where they may or may not live on the historic territory of their existence as a sovereign people. He is willing to make painful sacrifices for peace, even if that means giving up part of our biblical homeland in Judea and Samaria. But then you have to expect us to exercise our historical rights somewhere else. We decided this will be on the shores of the Black Sea, where we were an autochthonous people for more than 2000 years. Even the great non-Zionist historian Simon Dubnow said we had the right to colonize Crimea. It’s in all the history books. You can look it up».

The aide revealed to the two Israeli journalists that Netanyahu appreciates the strength of the ancient Khazars and quote Netanyahu as saying, «we are a proud and ancient people whose history here goes back 4,000 years». But the aide added, «The same is true of the Khazars . . . in Europe and not quite as long. But look at the map: the Khazars did not have to live within ‘Auschwitz borders.’»

To the uninformed, which apparently includes President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, the current Israeli desire to create a new nationalist Israeli identity is tied directly to the activities of the Ukrainian leadership of Petro Poroshenko, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Kolomoisky, and their American supporters, Nuland and Pyatt, in creating a safe haven, temporary or not, for the Ashkenazi settlers of the West Bank. Thanks to the Times of Israel exposé of the secret Israeli report on the Khazars and modern-day Israel, the machinations behind the American and European Union destabilization of Ukraine becomes all the more apparent.