You're reading: RFE/RL: Why US didn’t hit Kolomoyskiy with economic penalties

RFE/RL: Why US didn’t hit Kolomoyskiy with economic penalties

Published March 11, 2021. Updated March 11 at 2:18 am

Yuriy Hudymenko, leader of the Demokratychna Sokyra party, holds a playing card with a portrait of Ihor Kolomoisky, Ukrainian oligarch and former owner of PrivatBank, now a state-owned bank, protesting against Kolomoisky attempts to take back control over the bank in front of the Economic Court in Kyiv on Feb. 8, 2021.

Photo by Volodymyr Petrov

When President Joe Biden’s administration declared tycoon Ihor Kolomoyskiy persona non grata, formally barring him from entering the United States over corruption concerns, the decision was generally cheered by people pushing for economic and political reforms in Ukraine.