Self-proclaimed “People’s Governor” of Donetsk Pavel Gubarev said that Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov, of financing separatism in eastern Ukraine in a May 12 interview with Russian state-controlled newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta.
Gubarev’s claim came just two days after Akhmetov’s company announced that it would establish an unarmed militia in Mariupol, the site of massive clashes between separatists and government troops in eastern Ukraine.
However, Akhmetov issued a flat denial in a statement released about 6 p.m. on May 12. He said that he supports the Donbas region remaining in Ukraine and a peaceful settlement to the turmoil that has already claimed nearly 50 lives in Donetsk Oblast alone in the last two months.
“Pavel Gubarev said that I had bought out two thirds of activists. I am telling you with confidence that I have not given, nor will I ever give, a cent to anyone. The most important thing is that I have not bought out anyone, I have persuaded them. And if I have persuaded two thirds so far, I will continue to persuaded them further. People would come to me with one type of argument and leave with another one,” Akhmetov said. “I told them to unite around the words ‘the Happiness of Donbas’ so that every citizen in our region is happy. And what is the happiness of the region? It is when we have a strong economy, new jobs, good employment, good salary and good life. It is when our heritage, our history and our language are respected; in short, when our traditions and our ambitions of making the life better are respected. I am strongly convinced that Donbass can be happy only in the united Ukraine. I am for a strong Donbas in a strong Ukraine.”
Denis Pushilin, the self-proclaimed chairman of the Donetsk People’s Republic government, also denied that Akhmetov is financing separatists, joking that “he is not financing us,” but that he will “soon be paying taxes to our budget.”
After former President Viktor Yanukovych’s fall from power on Feb. 22 following the EuroMaidan Revolution, Gubarev said that Akhmetov and other wealthy members of the former ruling Party of Regions resorted to bribery to maintain their influence in eastern Ukraine.
The separatists “all took money” from Akhmetov and others, said Gubarev. “As it turned out, two-thirds of the activists were supported by the oligarch Akhmetov,” he claimed.
The Party of Regions attacked Gubarev for his claims about Akhmetov, saying that Gubarev and other separatists belong “in a madhouse.”
Akhmetov, whose fortune stands at $11.8 billion according to Forbes, is one of the world’s 100 richest people. His System Capital Management conglomerate is headquartered in Donetsk.
Since making billions of dollars in coal and metal extraction in the Donbas in the 1990s, Akhmetov has become one of the nation’s most powerful and influential men. He was a close ally of the deposed Yanukovych.
Although Akhmetov has publicly supported a united and free Ukraine in carefully measured public statements, Gubarev’s accusations raise questions about whether the mogul is playing a double game and is helping Russian President Vladimir Putin, or at least trying to blunt the interim Ukrainian government’s power in Donetsk Oblast.
One motivation for him to harm Kyiv’s fledgling government may be to disrupt any investigation into his business dealings.
Tetyana Chornovol, the head of the Ukrainian government’s anti-corruption efforts, told the Kyiv Post Akhmetov is high on her list of investigative targets, without specifying any crime for which he is suspected.
“We need to fight them,” Chornovol said, referring to Akhmetov and other businesspeople close to Yanukovych. “They are still having an impact on the situation in Ukraine.”
In the same interview, Chornovl said that Party of Regions lawmaker Yuriy Ivanyushchenko, another close Yanukovych ally, and ex-presidential chief of staff Andriy Klyuyev are also high on her list of potential investigative targets. The whereabouts of Ivanyushchenko and Klyuyev are unknown.
Since separatist violence erupted in eastern Ukraine, other Yanunovych allies – not only Akhmetov — have been accused of funding to pro-Russian rebels.
Chornovol specifically accused Ivanyushchenko of providing money for the pro-Russian separatist movements in eastern Ukraine.
Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, the head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) blamed Yanukovych’s inner circle for inciting the violence in Odessa that killed 48 people in May 2 clashes. He said that the SBU had discovered that the separatists who attacked the pro-Ukraine rally in Odessa had been paid by a money conversion center associated with former Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov and former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Klymenko, who are allies of Yanukovych.
Klymenko recently denied financing separatist activity on his Facebook page: “I categorically declare that I have no relation to not only financing, but even simply support of protest moves in Ukraine,” he said. He also accused the Ukrainian authorities of fabricating criminal cases against him.
Pro-Ukrainian activists have also accused Akhmetov of colluding with separatists and with the Kremlin, spray painting “Rinat is a separatist” and “Get out of Kyiv” on the outside of Akhmetov’s office in the Systems Capital Management headquarters in Kyiv.
They also painted profane, anti-Russian slogans on the facade of Akhmetov’s TsUM shopping mall (which is currently under construction) on Khreshchatyk Street in central Kyiv.
On May 12, interim President Oleksandr Turchynov said that those responsible for organizing the May 11 separatist referendums in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts will face prosecution.
Meanwhile, on May 10, Akhmetov’s Metinvest Group issued a statement announcing the establishment of an unarmed militia in Mariupol composed of metallurgical factory employees. The militia will work “in conjunction with municipal police” to patrol the city’s streets.
Metinvest’s top management called on the Ukrainian government to end its counterterrorism operation in a May 10 letter, demanding that “the Ukrainian army and other armed men…immediately leave the city [of Mariupol].”
Beginning on May 13, “these squads will begin patrolling the city to protect civilians from looters and criminals operating in the city.”
Metinvest a the key employer in Mariupol, controlling two of the three biggest enterprises there: Azovstal and Illich Steel.
Serhiy Pashynsky, the acting presidential chief of staff, told journalists at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center on May 11 that such “statements give cause for concern, as they may cause destabilization, and we will not allow this.”
Though he expressed concern about Metinvest’s private army, Pashynsky said that there is “no evidence” that Akhmetov’s conglomerate is financing separatism.
Pashynsky said that Akhmetov’s creation of a private army not only destabilizes the situation in eastern Ukraine, but also “jeopardizes the spread of the situation in other regions of Ukraine.”
“Of course we will not accept any paramilitary units other than those we create…Anyone who wishes to defend the territory of Ukraine – will have an opportunity to do so within a legal framework,” Pashynsky said.
Kyiv Post staff writer Isaac Webb can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter at@IsaacDWebb
