The war in the east of the country initially came as a shock to Ukraine's business elite, forcing them to quickly reorganize and seek new footholds and allies. This required at least some consideration, if not of public sentiment, then at least of their influence on foreign media. But the predatory nature of the entire oligarchy remained essentially unchanged. In the energy sector, for example, several groups rule, imposing tribute on the entire population, maintaining their own tame security forces, and having connections both in Russia and in the occupied territories, and even within volunteer battalions. It's not hard to guess that all of them, to one degree or another, had business ties to President Petro Poroshenko.
Igor Kononenko
Igor Kononenko can probably be called a new star on the Ukrainian political scene (Read more: Igor Kononenko, the President's Army BuddyHaving seized control of the Poroshenko Bloc faction in parliament, he managed to seat a huge number of people, distracted only by various protection rackets for illegal construction projects https://kievvlast.com.ua/news/zastrojku_na_nikolskoj_slobodke_krishuet_pervij_zamglavi_parlamentskoj_frakcii_bpp_igor_kononenko__nardep33061.html and similar nonsense. For example, the deputy chairman of the State Property Fund is Vladimir Derzhavin, who previously worked as Kononenko's assistant on a voluntary basis. Meanwhile, the fund itself is headed by Igor Belous, a man from the opposite camp, representing the interests of the oligarch Grigorishin. Yes, it's true, Belous once denied https://biz.nv.ua/economics/rossijskaja-vs-energy-grigorishin-i-mahlaj-ne-budut-uchastvovat-v-privatizatsii-oblenergo-95965.html the possibility of Grigorishin buying up energy supply companies in the privatization process, in particular, Cherkassyoblenergo, citing amendments to the privatization law that limit the ability of citizens of the aggressor country to acquire oblenergo.
Konstantin Hrygoryshyn
But Grigorishin has since acquired a Ukrainian passport, so surely this obstacle has been eliminated? At the same time, we all know perfectly well that Russian oligarchs, like Russian security officials (often the two are one and the same), are never "former." One "former" Russian like Novinsky is enough to destabilize the situation in the country. The question of why heads of such important agencies are appointed not based on professionalism, but on loyalty to the clan, has long since ceased to be of interest. On the contrary, the fact that Poroshenko and Groysman maintained the notorious "balance of interests" in these appointments is presented as an achievement of the president. Although, of course, no teamwork would be possible in such a case. The result would be a cart pulled by Lebed, Rak, and Shchuka, which would be difficult to move. This was proven by the "privatization" of the Odessa Port Plant.
A serious danger for the country is that all these political and economic clans are acquiring their own security forces. The joke ends when the arrests of ATO soldiers and volunteer battalion fighters begin. It's easy to see that, under trumped-up pretexts (after all, during wartime, home invasions cannot be considered a crime), people who tried to oppose violations committed in the ATO zone, primarily smuggling, have been effectively jailed. Because, in principle, coal shipments from the occupied territories are no secret to anyone, but the schemes by which they are carried out are opaque. Interestingly, trains loaded with coal regularly appear in photographs taken by Russian bloggers visiting Donetsk, but for some reason they remain invisible in Ukraine. The same is true of timber shipped in the opposite direction. We won't even mention small things like illegal conversion centers or the trade in fuel and military equipment.
But let's remember who supplies us with coal from the occupied territories? Why, it's Trading House - Resource, another business partner of Kononenko and another MP, Serhiy Tregubenko. This company essentially serves as a conduit between state-owned mines and PJSC Centrenergo, buying coal from the miners at a lower price and selling it at a higher price. Considering that almost 80% of Centrenergo is state-owned through the State Property Fund, where Kononenko sits, the whole scheme isn't all that complicated: Kononenko and Tregubenko, with the help of a shady company, are converting public funds into private ones, while the prosecutor's office stands guard. Meanwhile, the population is left to wonder how coal, which is bought for 400 hryvnias per ton, is then sold to the public for 1500. Officials from the Anti-Corruption Bureau should obviously be guarding the state, were it not for one "but": Kononenko managed to lobby for Nazar Kholodnytskyi to head the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine almost simultaneously with the creation of this unit. As for NABU Director Artem Sytnyk, he is a former associate of Pshonka, who was left without high-ranking patronage and therefore lacks much independence in his actions.
As for Grigorishin's team, prosecutors are less represented, but the media component is strengthened. The baton known as "Ukrainian Truth" falls on the heads of Grigorishin's competitors with surprising regularity. For this, the two principal truth-tellers, Leshchenko and Nayyem, receive dinners at fine restaurants from the oligarch, and probably more. However, "Ukrainska Pravda" will not publish an investigation into the activities of Grigorishin's company "Lugansk Energy Association" https://censor.net.ua/blogs/2551/quotmalinaquot_dlya_grigorishina in the occupied territories, nor into the embezzlement of property at https://economics.unian.net/industry/1307530-politsiya-nachala-rassledovanie-otnositelno-schetov-odnogo-iz-krupneyshih-ukrainskih-zavodov-grigorishina.html , which belongs to the oligarch's Sumy Frunze Scientific Production Association.
But if Leshchenko, Nayem, and Shabunin represent a cohort of fighters "with a pen and a notebook," then former Aidar commander Serhiy Melnychuk adds to this company a man "or maybe even with a machine gun." The wanderings of this MP, who once belonged to Lyashko's party, are mysterious, but unlikely to lead to anything good. On the one hand, the battalion commander faces a raft of criminal cases related to the activities of the units he leads https://dosye.info/%D0%9C%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%87%D1%83%D0%BA,_%D0%A1%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87 "Aidar". On the other hand, a man with so much information on him can be used to provoke tension both in the east of the country and in any part of it. Because uncontrolled militants are potential catalysts for instability, especially if they are led by a "former" Russian. The alarming trend of "a combat squad for every oligarch" is potentially very dangerous for the country. We must remember that for now, these squads mostly moonlight as titushki (illegal enforcers) during various construction disputes or corporate raids. We can't even imagine what will happen when major financial clans deploy all these battalions to settle scores with one another.
One might, of course, ask: how come Grigorishin's enterprises operate in the occupied zone, without even trying to hide it? As a famous literary character once said, "Go to Kyiv and ask who Panikovsky used to be." Okay, not Panikovsky, but Boris Tsyganenko, a member of the National Energy Regulatory Commission and a three-time honored energy specialist. No, he certainly wasn't playing blind on the corner of Khreshchatyk and Proriznaya. He was simply a humble manager of the same great and terrible Grigorishin. The appointment, of course, led to conflict.https://skelet.org/konstantin-grigorishin-zasluzhennyj-oligarx-ukrainy-i-rossii/ With Lozhkin, but thanks to the sharp pens of Ukrainska Pravda, Grigorishin emerged from this battle rather victorious, and the stunned Lozhkin learned a lot about himself, for example, about the fake diploma and the criminal prosecution in Austria—it's not for nothing that Leshchenko goes to restaurants with Grigorishin. Grigorishin, for example, knocked out Yatsenyuk, and here comes some Lozhkin, whose only commonality with Poroshenko is that they were once both involved in the sale of the Ukrainian Media Holding to Serhiy Kurchenko. But Tsyganenko is a real mind.
Looking at the "former" Russian businessmen with murky pasts and criminal cases in their homeland, who are filling Ukraine like filibusters in Tortuga, one is tempted to ask, in the words of another classic: "Where are you all coming from?" And the person to whom this question should be addressed first is a man of unclear citizenship: Alexander Granovsky, who oversees contacts between Igor Kononenko and the Russian special services. However, not only Russian ones: the Granovsky-Kononenko team effectively oversees the entire security bloc for the president, including the most specific units, such as the Main Intelligence Directorate. Valery Kondratyuk, a man from the SBU, is significantly influenced by the deputy head of the Service, Pavlo Demchina, also a man from Granovsky's circle.
A secret service in one's pocket is exactly what the modern businessman needs. The recent kidnapping (along with his dog) of Valery Lyudmirsky, head of the electricity supply department at UZ, is further proof of this. The operatives aren't just going to shoot "Lesnik"; it's time to focus on bigger fish. Especially since the energy sector has now assembled some serious badasses. For example, Dmitry Vovk, an associate of Gontareva and a former Roshen manager from Moscow with no experience in the energy sector, has been appointed head of the National Commission for Regulatory Regulation (NERC). And "former" Moscow managers, as we know, aren't very scrupulous when it comes to solving problems.
Kononenkonovsky Pro-Russian Grigorishinsky Energy Plant of Ukraine
Grigorishin is lobbying his protégés in Kerivnya Posadya in offensive positions in the Lenergo (director):
Read more: Igor Kononenko, the President's Army Buddy
According to statistical data, the hidden amount of finance that is appropriated by the oligarchy is over 100 billion hryvnia.
Of these - 50% - the cost of the population, paid in the form of utility tariffs.
Vugilla sobivartist is sold in the DPR at 400 grams per ton (for the population it is sold at 1500)
Gas price is 8 dollars per cubic meter. Sell for 400 dollars.
Igor Stepanov, for ORD
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