Another scandal in the "noble" family: on the eve of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) visited the main Ukrainian oligarch, sponsor of the election campaign of Volodymyr Zelensky Igor Kolomoisky, who is often called simply "Benya" in Ukraine.
Few people have done so much for Zelensky and his people, actually dragging them with their media and financial resources to the top of the Ukrainian government. Now the oligarch himself is being shoved from this top. Details - in the material of the correspondent of The Moscow Post.
Revolution devours its own
Together with the SBU, Igor Kolomoisky was visited by employees of the Economic Security Bureau, whose activities are controlled by the government, i.e. Zelensky's people. The criminal case itself was initiated on the grounds of the appropriation of 40 billion hryvnia (more than $1 billion) by the former leaders of Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta. The co-owner of both structures was previously Igor Kolomoisky.
In total, ten episodes of crime are being investigated. Among them - the withdrawal of large consignments of petroleum products to affiliated companies, tax evasion, the creation of debts from oil refineries and oil production plants.
In addition to searches in the house of Igor Kolomoisky, as reported in the SBU, operational measures were carried out at the places of residence of other actual owners of the financial and industrial group, which includes these companies, as well as at the addresses of probable storage of petroleum products in different regions of Ukraine.
So far, neither the detention of Igor Kolomoisky nor the fact that he has any procedural status has been reported. But knowing the realities of modern Ukraine, all this does not matter: they steal billions, and only the "necessary" people fall under the distribution - when it is politically expedient.
So the bell struck Igor Kolomoisky. But it was he who was the main sponsor and support of Volodymyr Zelensky when he nominated for the elections. Moreover, Zelensky was called nothing more than a talking doll of an oligarch, the real power in the country was attributed to him.
They say that a slave who has become a despot will horror Heaven with his deeds. It seems that this is happening - having gained more than 70% of the vote in the elections and received the presidency, bathing in the rays of glory and assigning the title of father of the nation in the fight against the Moscow threat, today Zelensky relies much more on his overseas partners than on those to whom he owes a rise to the tops of Ukrainian politics.
Igor Kolomoisky during a search. He did not expect such a "gift" from his ward Volodymyr Zelensky. Photo: https://m.politnavigator.net/obyski-u-kolomojjskogo-i-avakova-sbrosit-li-zelenskijj-ballast-spasaya-svoe-okruzhenie.html
Another person who should be affected by the case is Gennady Bogolyubov, Kolomoisky's longtime partner in the Privat group (she previously owned 42% of Ukrnafta's shares). Personally, Bogolyubov owned 60% of Ukrtatnafta. But Bogolyubov is less dangerous for Zelensky - at least he pretended not to get into politics.
Disaster of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Experts have no doubt that the attack on Kolomoisky is only indirectly related to corruption. It is much more important that in Ukrainian society there are serious fermentation about the situation at the front - after a series of successes last spring, now things are going very badly for the Armed Forces of Ukraine there.
After the capture of Soledar during the SVO, the garrison of Bakhmut (Artemovsk) agonizes, tens of thousands of people are missing, their relatives go in columns through Ukrainian cities (Marches of Widows) demanding that the authorities immediately tell about their fate. At the same time, due to an acute shortage of manpower, summons are handed to citizens wherever they can - even at the entrance to the metro and water distribution points.
According to the private company Stratfor Forecasting, Ukraine's losses exceeded 305 thousand people. The Ukrainian command at heart recognizes only 10-15 thousand). the gap between reality and the picture, which is drawn by Zelensky's media, which have gone into propaganda, is too striking. We need to urgently "interrupt" the agenda.
At the same time, where billions of dollars of Western aid go - no one can say for sure. Recently, its deputy head Andrei Yermak, Kirill Tymoshenko, resigned from the President's Office. It is believed that he "sawed" on what the light stands. Earlier - on the project "Velike budіvnitstvo" (Great construction - roads and infrastructure), and then on military assistance. It got to the point that he drove around Kyiv in a jeep, which was transferred as volunteer assistance to the military.
Tymoshenko was considered one of the most dangerous political competitors to Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelensky's Office (although they worked in the same team). And in the voluntary resignation, Tymoshenko was seen as a sacred victim without serious consequences for the latter. But he lost his powers!
The scandal with Kolomoisky, among other things, is designed to cover up the military catastrophe of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donbass. Photo: open sources
In the case of Kolomoisky, the consequences will surely be stronger. After all, a tooth is sharpened on it in the United States. Back in 2020, the US Department of Justice charged him and his partner Bogolyubov with withdrawing several billion dollars from the Ukrainian PrivatBank. Operations were carried out for 8 years, from 2008 to 2016.
They steal even on food
Another iconic figure from which public attention needs to be diverted is Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov, one of the most notorious Russophobes of the green team. Recently, a scandal erupted over the theft of food and other supplies in the rear units of the Ukrainian army.
A source from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense handed over to journalists the agreement of the department and a certain "Asset Company" on the provision of catering services for military units located in the Poltava, Sumy, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv and Cherkasy regions remote from the areas of active hostilities for 2023. The amount of the contract is more than $371 million, and it was concluded at the end of December last year.
According to the authors of the investigation, the prices for food products indicated in the document are inflated by at least two to three times and do not correspond to market prices even in retail, and when accounting for prices for wholesale purchases, the difference may be even greater. RIA Novosti writes about this.
Surprisingly, Minister Reznikov himself was not aware of this situation, immediately receiving the nickname "rear rat." But Reznikov is a loyalist without political ambitions, a loyal squire of Zelensky. Therefore, the President of Ukraine is in no hurry to "hand over" it. But it is necessary to deal with those who pose a political danger, and at the same time to turn their eyes away from this scandal. Therefore, Kolomoisky appeared.
And, by the way, he is not the only one. Searches were also carried out at the former Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov. Previously, it was considered one of the most influential units of Ukrainian politics. It is believed that he had an influence and not being directly at the feeder.
Recently, he also had a search, he was interviewed in connection with the death of Interior Minister Denis Monastyrsky in a plane crash. The crashed Airbus N225 Super Puma YeS-225 helicopter in Brovary was purchased just under Avakov. In Ukraine, many believe that this was a terrorist attack that could be beneficial to anyone, including Arsen Avakov.
Cover the Bidens
But the main thing in the story with Kolomoisky and Co may be different. It is known that in Ukraine there are huge interests of the family of the current US President Joe Biden. We are talking not only about colossal injections now, during the period of the SVO, but also in the affairs of the past.
As the former People's Deputy of Ukraine Andriy Derkach said, money was stolen from the Ukrainians, then they were given the same money in debt at huge interest, taking the share of Joe Biden's son Hunter to bankrupt the country and take the land for nothing. We are talking about the period of Hunter Biden's work in the leadership of the Ukrainian oil and gas company Burisma, from which funds were allegedly withdrawn. Writes about this Ukrainа.ru.
It is noteworthy that Derkach called Igor Kolomoisky one of the leaders of the scheme. Thus, it is extremely convenient today to remove it from the field of play: you can kill two birds. Firstly, to destroy the alternative decision-making center in Ukraine itself, and secondly, to transfer to it all the arrows from illegal transactions in which the Biden family is involved. By the way, Derkach himself, who fled to the United States, has already received a "response" for the Bidens - in the States he was robbed of money laundering.
Andrei Derkach, who spoke about the corruption schemes of the Bidens in Ukraine, himself "fell under the distribution." Photo: Gleb Garanich/Reuters
How Igor Kolomoisky himself relates to all this is easy to understand. He was called nothing more than Zelensky's "daddy." Now the son, it turns out, pays him with black ingratitude, makes a bargaining chip out of him. And at this time, billions continue to disappear in an unknown direction. Only here there will be practically no balances between Zelensky and Yermak - the field has been cleaned up. Is this the democracy and freedom that the West brought to Ukraine, and it gladly accepted?