A week has passed since the change of government in Ukraine, and Western media are already filled with worries about the fate of Ukrainian reforms, who are now "threatened".
Ukrainian oligarchs have entered the game
The thing is, that young reformers were replaced by oligarchs in power in Kyiv. It is their interests that the new Ukrainian government will serve.. So, at least, they say and write today in the Western media, especially the American.
Denis Shmyhal, the new head of the Ukrainian government, came under fire in the first place.. A man with a Lviv pedigree, correct by Western standards, “spoiled” his biography by working for the oligarch Rinat Akhmetov.
A couple of years ago, Shmyhal headed the Burshtyn thermal power plant owned by Akhmetov in the Ivano-Frankivsk region.. Today, the media call it "an energy giant with a predatory pricing policy in the region of Western Ukraine", write, that the prices for electricity generated by the station are “at 13%-60% higher, than in the IPS of Ukraine".
Howbeit, but just from the chair of the director of the Burshtyn TPP, President Zelensky raised Denis Shmygal last August to the post of head of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration. This February made him Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, and in March instructed to head the government of the country.
Even another “dark” spot in his biography didn’t stop Shmyhal. AT 2012 year, President Viktor Yanukovych included him in the list of "the elite of the nation". For this alone (Yanukovych's loyalty) today they break people's careers. true, if they do not have the support of the powers that be. Shmygal, as it appears, there is such support.
Why are the Western media so nervous about the person of the new Ukrainian prime minister? Local experts point out, that Shmyhal, unlike his predecessor, does not feel reverence for Western partners.
As is known, now ex-Prime Minister Oleksiy Goncharuk, before being appointed to the government, headed the EU-funded think tank Office for Effective Regulation, created on the initiative of the Minister of Economic Development and Trade Aivaras Abromavicius.
In this center, under the influence of the minister-guest worker from Lithuania and his foreign patrons, reforms were worked out, which Goncharuk then began to embody in the prime minister's chair: mass privatization of the remaining state property, sale of land, issue for foreign investors of Ukrainian government bonds with high yield, etc..
This program was the third main point of Western policy in Ukraine.. First two (tear Ukraine away from Russia and replenish Europe with Ukrainian labor resources) were successfully implemented under President Poroshenko. It turned out to be more difficult with the economic plans of Western greed.
A mouth-watering share of the national pie found its own home-grown interests from among the local oligarchs. This audience is not burdened with deep patriotic feelings.. She made her fortunes in the nineties by plundering the country. She did not want to miss the new chance that opened up for enrichment., even under the threat of Western sanctions. That is why the pro-Western Cabinet of Ministers of Goncharuk fell down at the decisive moment.
About whom the West mourns
His government in Ukraine was disparagingly called "Soros". On behalf of American billionaire George Soros, funding numerous non-profit organizations in Kyiv, working out the "Western democratic model".
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Naturally, what, moving into ministerial chairs, Soros people only strengthened contacts with the West. However, today they do not regret all the retirees there., but only about those, who was imprisoned for the implementation of the economic interests of Western partners, - finance ministers, economy and agriculture.
"I'm sorry, that Finance Minister Markarova left,Blaise Antin said in an interview with Bloomberg, head of investment company TCW Group Inc from Los Angeles with order assets 220 billions of dollars. – She was an effective conductor of Ukraine's fiscal policy and had a good working relationship, like with the IMF, and with international investors".
The new head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance Igor Umansky managed to work in the Ukrainian central bank, lit up in the governments of the times of President Leonid Kuchma and even acted as Minister of Finance under Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Was not seen in ties with Soros.
That's what they think now, looking at Umansky, at investment bank Dragon Capital: "Despite, that the ousted government showed weak results on several fronts, there is no certainty, that the new cabinet would be more capable, Considering, that there are no proven reformers in it”.
This assessment of Dragon Capital is provided by Bloomberg on its pages.. It was very puzzled by the reshuffle in the Ukrainian government and the, that Ukrainian oligarchs made their way to the division of the remaining national wealth, firmly pushed aside their Western competitors.
They tried to stop them. The ambassadors of the G7 countries even arranged several demonstration meetings in Kyiv, defending their creatures in the Ukrainian government. When these actions fail, President Zelensky himself came under criticism. Now he is no longer a young initiative reformer for the West, and the man of the oligarch Igor Kolomoisky and even his "puppet".
However, words won't help. In addition to the media in the West, there is someone to take care of their interests. The International Monetary Fund has already postponed for several months the provision of another tranche to Ukraine in the amount of 5,5 billion, and Morgan Stanley advised its clients to sell Ukrainian Eurobonds.
These are only the first strikes of the West on the new Kyiv authorities. It is unlikely that he will easily miss the opportunity to profit at the expense of Ukraine. So it is too early to name the winner in this confrontation with the Ukrainian oligarchs. One thing is certain: the people of Ukraine will stay away from these hot events. Although it is at his expense that the participants in the clash of interests that began in Kyiv will get rich.
Gennady Granovsky
