President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in one day got involved in a war with everyone – with the richest Ukrainian Akhmetov, with his former colleague Arsen Avakov and all more or less influential journalists in Ukraine.
During his surprise press marathon, Zelenskiy fired perhaps the strongest possible response salvo at the oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, accusing him, no less, of participating in the planning of a coup d’état. Perhaps in planning … Perhaps – a coup … Perhaps with the participation of Russian services and part of the former employees of the Ukrainian special services, and possibly December 1-2. Everything is “probably” and is based on some reports of foreign intelligence services and wiretapping of conversations of certain Russians and Ukrainians, in which Akhmetov was mentioned – such a cocktail of “quite probable” events cannot be refuted by the oligarch so quickly.
However, one can argue about the sequence of the volleys. Recently, Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada with a demand to provide him with a tribune for an extraordinary appeal to parliament. On the air of Rinat Akhmetov’s most rated TV and radio company “Ukraine”, “probably financed by an oligarch” Oleg Lyashko immediately spoke and said that the President of Ukraine plans to introduce martial law on December 1.
Prior to that, Volodymyr Zelenskyy passed a law on oligarchs through parliament. The law is populist, empty, and toothless, but the register of oligarchs, according to it, should have been created. Many observers believe that Akhmetov, who has not been running for parliament for many years, does not participate publicly in the activities of political parties and invests serious money in creating the image of a respectable investor, philanthropist, and president of a successful football club when included in this register of “people influencing on politics “in one hour can turn into an outcast inside the country. But, most importantly, it can get unexpected problems with attracting loans in the international market. The SCM management company Rinat Akhmetov has $ 6.5 billion in debts.
Immediately after the adoption of the law on oligarchs, the tone of political news and shows on Akhmetov’s TV channels instantly changed, critics of the current government suddenly received a rostrum. And the ratings of Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his Servant of the People party suddenly and rapidly began to decline.
The second front in the war between oligarch Akhmetov and President Zelensky was the energy market. On it, as they firmly believe in Kyiv, Russia is fighting against Ukraine, which has stopped supplies to the country of thermal coal and does not allow the supply of such coal through Russia from Kazakhstan. And here on the side of Russia, according to Zelensky, is Rinat Akhmetov’s DITEK company, which, apparently, maliciously created a coal reserve, but the state-owned company Centrenergo did not.
If we continue this chain of mutual grievances and accusations, we will have to remember that the state energy company Centrenergo is controlled by an ally of Vladimir Zelensky, the oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, whose reputation does not allow him to quickly attract borrowed money for the purchase of coal … Vladimir Zelensky and Rinat Akhmetov, surprisingly, really are at war.
“There are big challenges within the state, which are recorded by the intelligence services of other countries. For example, we received information that there will be a coup d’etat on December 1-2, ” Volodymyr Zelensky literally said this Friday. – I have no right to speak and share information, but I can say that there is not only agent information, but also sound information, where representatives from Ukraine and Russia are discussing Akhmetov’s participation in the coup, which will attract billions of dollars. I believe that this is Akhmetov’s setup, he is being dragged into the war against Ukraine. I believe that if he started it, it would be a big mistake because you cannot fight against your people. “
“We have a country called Ukraine, it is not called DITEK. Since spring he was dragged in, and I think he is fighting the state, I think this is a mistake, ”Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said. And he also accused Rinat Akhmetov and representatives of the late Popular Front Arsen Avakov and Arseniy Yatsenyuk of creating their own power in parliament – in fact, buying up parliamentarians, both majoritarian and from the Servant of the People faction.
Only the last accusation looks plausible – that of buying up deputies. Rinat Akhmetov, indeed, has a very solid and proven reputation for decades – he always negotiates and does not fight, rather strangles enemies in his arms than beats them in any forceful way.
