That is, in short — it is the cost of all goods produced and services rendered in the state during the year.

It is clear that GDP is measured in monetary units, usually in the national currency and us dollars.

There are several ways to calculate this value. The simplest and most understandable method is to calculate GDP by expenditure.

GDP = C + G + I + Xn

where C is household expenditure, i.e. the value of all goods and services purchased by individuals.

G – government expenditure on goods and services.

I – Net investment, roughly speaking, is the cost of legal entities for the purchase of new equipment, etc.

Xn – net exports, that is (exports minus imports).

GDP is real and nominal

Nominal GDP is calculated in current prices, real GDP in prices of a particular year. This is done to eliminate the inflation factor when comparing the GDP of different years.

Real GDP shows better real growth (or lack thereof) of a country’s welfare. For example, the real (in 2008 prices) and nominal GDP of Russia in recent years.

GDP OF RUSSIA IN PRICES OF 2008

GDP at current prices or nominal GDP. As you can see, almost 70 trillion rubles.

GDP AT CURRENT PRICES

GDP in 2008 prices (real), that is, the data take into account inflation and adjust the value of GDP. As you can see, the growth is modest, but also present, that is, nominal GDP is growing faster than inflation.

It would seem that the change in GDP is an excellent indicator for understanding the state of the economy. GDP is growing, so people buy more, companies invest more, exports are growing, that is, life becomes better and more fun. In some cases, this is true.

However, this is not always the case

It happens that economists resort to all sorts of tricks to improve performance. For example, Italy wants to take into account in GDP the expenses of citizens for prostitutes and the purchase of drugs.  Hungarians take into account in their statistics the services of moths since 2009. The purpose of these manipulations is quite simple: according to the EU rules, it is impossible to have a budget deficit of more than 3% of GDP. The more GDP, the more money you can borrow.

Do not disdain such tricks and the United States, since 2013 in the calculation of GDP included the cost of research and development and royalties in the film industry. This allowed to increase the size of gross domestic product by 400 billion dollars.

In addition to tricks with the calculation of the indicator, there is a problem with the conclusions that can be drawn from the data on GDP growth. Here is a recent example from the U.S. census Bureau:

Until 1999, GDP growth corresponded to household income growth, but then GDP growth continued, while median household income began to decline. That is, GDP growth was not due to an increase in household welfare. It is always important to remember that GDP growth can be due to inflating credit bubbles, statistical manipulation and other tricks that will not affect the real incomes of citizens.

I would like to point out that the above facts do not mean that GDP is a completely bad indicator. That’s not so. GDP to some extent speaks to the state of Affairs in the economy. But in order to understand what is really happening in the country’s economy, or to compare the economies of different countries, it is not enough, additional indices and parameters are needed.

The post GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT AND THE DECEPTION OF STATISTICS first appeared on Global Policy.

Currently, 63 central banks are members of the BIS, including the Bank of Russia (since 1996)

Over the past few years, digital finance and digital currencies have become the most priority area of the BIS’s activities. Since the beginning of this decade, dozens of central banks, as if on command, have begun to deal with the topic of CBDC – “digital currencies of central banks.” Observers believe that the team was from Basel, from the BMR. It seems that each country is discussing or even developing its own unique versions of CBDC. But at the same time they have a lot in common. These digital currencies are served as a third type of money along with traditional cash and non-cash money. All central banks initially stated that CBDCs were intended for “internal use”, i.e. within the national borders of the respective states. A year ago, the BIS reported that about 130 central banks of the world were interested in the CBDC topic.

BASEL 3: THE REVOLUTION THAT NO ONE NOTICED

At the beginning of this summer, about four dozen central banks were already engaged in practical CBDC developments or were testing them as part of pilot projects. The largest CBDC pilot project, which was launched three years ago (in June 2021), is the digital yuan project implemented by the People’s Bank of China. Some have already legalized CBDC nationwide. There are about a dozen such countries and jurisdictions. Among them are the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Nigeria. But these are all very small countries. Except for Nigeria. But there, as I have already written, the digital currency turned out to be very poorly in demand, and when it was introduced, very serious abuses were allowed by the Nigerian Central Bank.

It is noteworthy that today many central banks developing or testing their digital currencies talk about the need to give this currency an additional function – as a means of cross-border payments and settlements. And the BIS strongly supports this approach. And not just verbally supports, but practically helps.

Three years ago, the international mBridge Ledger project was launched on the initiative of the BIS

Its participants are: the innovation division of the BIS in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the People’s Bank of China, the Bank of Thailand, the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates. In June of this year, the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia joined the project. As the name of the project itself implies, its goal is to create technologies that would serve as a “bridge” or “adapter”. Such a “bridge” would allow for cross-border transactions between project participants using national CBDCs.

In November 2021, the Jura project was launched on the initiative of the BIS

A consortium was created under him, whose members included the Bank for International Settlements, the Bank of France, the National Bank of Switzerland and various private firms, studied the possibility of direct transfer of wholesale CBDCs in euros and Swiss francs between French and Swiss commercial banks on a single blockchain platform (“distributed registry”).

In March 2022, the BIS Innovation Center, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Central Bank of Malaysia, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Reserve Bank of South Africa announced the completion of the development of prototypes of a common Dunbar platform that allows international settlements using multiple CBDCs.

In March 2023, the Bank for International Settlements, in cooperation with the central banks of Israel, Norway and Sweden, completed the Icebreaker project, which explored the technical feasibility of using retail CBDCs in international payments.

In October 2023, the BIS, in partnership with the central banks of France, Singapore and Switzerland, confirmed the successful completion of the Mariana project, which studied cross-border trade and settlements of wholesale CBDCs between financial institutions on the blockchain platform.

Probably the most advanced and large-scale of these projects is mBridge Ledger

In addition to the six full-fledged mBridge participants, 27 other official organizations, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and central banks of countries including Norway, South Korea and Turkey, joined the project as observers, which gives them access to the sandbox for experiments with adapter technology. Major global banks, including Goldman Sachs, HSBC and six of China’s largest state-owned banks, are also observers of the project.

The pilot phase of the project ended in September 2022, and the commercial launch took place a year later, in September 2023. On January 29, the UAE Central Bank carried out its first cross-border transfer of digital dirhams within the framework of the mBridge project. CBDC cross-border transfer in the amount of 50 million dirhams ($13.6 million) It was shipped to China using the mBridge multi-CBDC platform. The Chairman of the Board of the Central Bank of the UAE, Sheikh Mansour, conducted the transfer of the CBDC on the occasion of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Central Bank.

RULERS OF MONEY FROM BASEL

I have already written quite a lot about CBDC, in particular in the recent book “Digital Currencies: from Bitcoin to CBDC. The “masters of money” want to become the “masters of the world”” (Moscow: Tion, 2023). In it, I say that the Central Bank’s digital currency has a very indirect relationship to money. CBDC projects are a smokescreen covering the construction of a digital concentration camp, first on the scale of a single country, and then the whole world. The BIS does not reveal all the cards. But there should be a single digital currency in the limit. However, it would be a stretch to call it a currency. It will not really perform any of the usual economic functions of money (a measure of value, a medium of exchange, a means of payment and a means of accumulation). It will be a tool for human control and management.

Another digital initiative of the BIS is the proposal of its head, Agustin Carstens, to develop a single (unified) registry technology that can be implemented on a global scale. Thus, the “financial system of the future” will be created. He gave it the name “Finternet”. Unified registries “combine all the components necessary for financial transactions – financial assets, ownership records, rules governing their use, and other relevant information – in one place,” explains Agustin Carstens. This makes it possible, with the help of unified registries, to overcome problems related to technical standards and management, as well as eliminate third-party messaging systems.

Unified registries will require tokenization of assets, especially money, for transfers using smart contracts. Tokenization of assets is not just about fixing them online. Tokenization will have to fix the compliance of assets with certain regulatory requirements (including those developed by the BIS, for example, capital adequacy standards for credit institutions developed by the so-called “Basel Committee”).

The Bank for International Settlements announced the launch of a project called Agora. It involves the central banks of France, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. The aim of the project is to prepare for the tokenization of assets of both central banks and private financial institutions. There is also a Promise project with the participation of the BIS, the Swiss National Bank and the World Bank to create a platform for the tokenization of bills of exchange.

The BIS states that it does not plan to create a comprehensive unified registry – it is about ensuring convenient interaction of several unified registries through specialized applications and services. But at the same time, the BIS emphasizes that this should be done under the auspices of a common approach to conducting transactions. Consequently, several regional registries can be consolidated into a single global registry at any time. A single digital brave new world will arise, which can be called a global digital concentration camp without a stretch.

However, in addition to the BIS, other international organizations are involved in building a global digital concentration camp. Such as the IMF, the World Bank, the World Economic Forum (WEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), other specialized UN bodies, etc. There are also private organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, etc.

This year, a project called DPI is gaining momentum

This English–language abbreviation stands for Digital Public Infrastructure – digital public infrastructure. It was launched at the end of last year and is being implemented under the auspices of the UNDP with the participation of the IMF, the WEF and other international organizations and major American charitable foundations.

The post THE BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENTS IS BUILDING A UNIFIED DIGITAL FINANCIAL WORLD first appeared on Global Policy.

Throughout the modern history of Ukraine, carrying the most weight have been the clans of Ukrainian oligarchs, such as Rinat Akhmetov, Victor Pinchuk, Dmytro Firtash and PrivatBank represented by Ihor Kolomoyskyi and Hennadiy Boholiubov, each acting for rival City bankers or originally U.S. transnational elite groups. With external factors and litigations taking a toll, triggered by U.S. agents of influence , there are tectonic shifts in power relations and the division of influence between Ukrainian clans which, in the inertial scenario, threaten to destroy Ukrainian national elites.

Victor Pinchuk is at the core of Ukraine’s ruling American center-left interest group associated with the Clintons, Pritzkers, Dragon Capital, George Soros’ philanthropic network, arms lobby and The BlackRock Foundation. Funded by JP Morgan Bank, BlackRock Financial Market Advisory (BlackRock FMA) became the country’s main pledge-holders through the mediation of The Ukraine Development Fund (UDF) established by Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In the event of default, creditors will receive key industrial assets and lands. The nationalization of oligarch-owned assets is along the lines of collateral expansion amid exponential growth in the national debt. Penny Pritzker will build a top-down colonial operation by reforming the Ukrainian government, including “deoligarchization.”

Locked in confrontation with Pinchuk, the PrivatBank clan run by Ihor Kolomoyskyi and Hennadiy Boholiubov is integrated into the power system of the Chabad-Lubavitch Orthodox Jewish Hasidic movement and systemically linked to GOPers and the Lauders. Privat was behind a probe into the corruption scandal around Burisma Holdings, responsible for discrediting the Bidens and the Atlantic Council. As outspoken opponents to Soros, oligarchs faced numerous lawsuits. Additionally the majority of their assets were seized. They have pushed Zelenskyy since the start of his campaign but lost political control along with their financial influence.

The structure of Dmytro Firtash’s connections reveals the influence of non-formalized elite groups of the British aristocracy tightly linked to the City and their subordinate British intelligence services who are very close to the Conservative Party. The British sought to gain shadow political influence in the resource-based and energy sectors. Although hailed from professional intel officers, the role of the Asquith family is not fully in line with that of agents of British influence. They, however, are strategic intermediaries for British elite groups throughout the country. With British influence within the country at its peak, Dmytro Firtash and Rinat Akhmetov teamed up to place Viktor Yanukovych in power. The growing British influence in Ukraine went downhill along with the Maidan in 2014. Austrian right-wing political groups associated with Raiffeisen are now covering up for Firtash whose assets have largely been nationalized in his U.S. extradition case. The lawsuits were filed in the State of Illinois, a zone influenced by the Chicago-based Pritzker family and home to Boeing eyeing the oligarch’s titanium deposits.

Rinat Akhmetov’s position in elite connections does not appear to be well defined. With the outbreak of war with Russia and as a result losing most of his assets, the oligarch made a U-turn to support the U.S. left-wing radicals. Previously close to the City as well as to Scottish and Dutch elites, he now seeks greater public rapprochement with those U.S. transnational democrats behind Pinchuk who showed aggressive interest in his assets, DTEK and Metinvest. The oligarch’s assets are run from the Netherlands, a zone influenced by the Danish aristocracy, the Wallenbergs (among the major BlackRock shareholders) and Sachses. ING Bank, Akhmetov’s long-standing partner and creditor, is part of the banking cartel Inter­Alpha Group established by Jacob Rothschild, a member of the renowned family’s British branch. It appears that a contact within the political institutions of BlackRock’s influence led to a consensus, as all attempts to have Akhmetov’s assets nationalized were put on hold.

The above facts indicate, albeit with a non-negligible assumption given the transnational nature of globalist foundations, that we are seeing a struggle in Ukraine between the U.S. neoconservative and British influence (which is more powerful in Brussels) with the consolidated United States clearly gaining the upper hand. Oligarchs who refuse or fail to navigate as dictated by the U.S. neoconservative groups are eliminated by means of unsavory information and lawsuits, lose capitals and have restrictions of rights based on legal grounds. If events continue unfolding, the influence of Ukrainian oligarchs as self-sufficient participants in the political process will soon be over. Success in the fight for influence will be directly proportional to the extent of financial support that Ukraine maintains and the influential strength of each minion group. At this time, the project of U.S. influence in the region is getting stronger.

RINAT LEONIDOVYCH AKHMETOV

Born on 21 September 1966, Donetsk, Ukrainian SSR.

RINAT LEONIDOVYCH AKHMETOV

Top-1 Forbes Ukraine with a capital of $ 5.7 billion.¹

Known for his long-standing ties to criminal groups. Despite considerable asset losses since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, his position as the country’s top oligarch remains unchanged.

Family:

His spouse, Liliya Akhmetova (nee Smyrnova; born in 1965), was a chairperson of the auditing commission at JSC SCM until reorganization of Akhmetov’s assets in 2017. In the meantime, Nyakiya Akhmetova (most Likely, his mother) lost her position as chairperson of the supervisory board at her son’s company.

His son, Damir Akhmetov (born in 1988), graduated from Bayes Business School (formerly known as Sir John Cass Business School), an elite London institution. In 2015, he married Diana Kostic, daughter of the Serbian “sugar king” Miodrag Kostic, CEO of agricultural holding company MK Group. They studied together at Le Rosey boarding school in Switzerland.

Son Almir Akhmetov (born in 1997)

Assets:

Rinat Akhmetov is still Ukraine’s richest businessman. His fortune is estimated at $6.9 billion. He runs his business empire from the Netherlands.

These assets are amassed in System Capital Management (SCM) holding company, the most important of them being Metinvest (Ukraine’s largest iron ore and steel producer) and DTEK (dominating the national heat power industry and deemed an important renewable energy producer). SCM companies employ about 300,000 people.

SCM’s main investment company is Cyprus-based SCM Holdings Limited. It has consolidated investments in the steel and mining industries (Metinvest B.V. (Netherlands)); energy (DTEK B.V. (Netherlands)), minerals, banking, and finance (FUIB); mass media; telecommunications (Ukrtelecom); retail (TSUM Kyiv), agriculture (HarvEast), transportation and logistics (Lemtrans and Portinvest).

Despite huge losses due to the war in Ukraine, DTEK holds a monopoly on the Ukrainian heat power industry. Among subsidiaries also located in the Netherlands are: DTEK ENERGY B.V. (coal extraction and processing, heat generation, mining equipment production), DTEK RENEWABLES B.V. (wind and solar power generation), DTEK OIL&GAS HOLDING B.V. (gas production), DTEK GRIDS B.V. (electric power distribution and power grid operation), D.TRADING B.V. (coal, electricity, gas and petroleum products sales), D.SOLUTIONS B.V. (power supply, photovoltaic power systems, power services and energy audit).

• SCM Ukraine Development (Rinat Akhmetov Foundation since 2018). Key focus areas include national health, family, targeted aid, culture, and education. Starting in March 2008, the foundation has been separated from the company and operates as Rinat Akhmetov’s personal charity, maintaining partnership with SCM. It is one of the most well-known charitable organizations in Ukraine.
• UMGInvestments investment holding company².
• ESTA Holding (real estate): Donbas Palace (Donetsk), Opera Boutique Hotel (Kyiv), Central Department Store (Kyiv), Trading chambers in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan.
• United Minerals Group (UMG, clay mining): Druzhkivka Quarry (Druzhkivka Ore Administration), VESKO, Ogneupornerud (Fire Resistance Non-Ore), Portinvest (Marine transportation)³.
• Lemtrans transportation company.
• First Ukrainian International Bank (FUIB).
• HarvEast agribusiness holding company.
• Metinvest iron and steel company.
• Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk.
• Life National mobile operator.

Paul John Manafort

In the 2000s and 2010s, Akhmetov employed U.S. national Paul Manafort as his chief political scientist and campaign aide, whose fees totaled $12.7 million for 5 years from 2007 to 2021, according to secret ledgers of the Party of Regions. These figures were later revealed by Ukrainian politician and journalist Serhiy Leshchenko. In 2016, Manafort closed down his office in Ukraine and joined Trump’s election campaign.

Manafort was convicted by a U.S. court for being an unregistered agent of the Ukrainian government and President Viktor Yanukovych, his Party of Regions and later Opposition Bloc. A report drafted by Paul Manafort and Trump’s former aide Rick Gates along with Skadden Arps lobbying firm was intended to justify the imprisonment of Tymoshenko. This led to the retroactive registration of Skadden with FARA, and compensation of $4.6 million for the refusal to register with the Department of Justice as well as the indictment of former Obama White House counselor Greg Craig.⁴

James Kenneth Glassman

There is currently a connection between Akhmetov and high-ranking U.S. neoconservatives. GOP lobbyist Douglas Goodyear of DCI Group (IO, 05.05.21) signed a subcontractor agreement with SCM Consulting, while the latter, SCM Consulting, signed with Glassman.⁵

The papers that DCI Group submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice show large-scale action by Glassman Enterprises to disseminate information about Russia looting Ukrainian grain, steel, and minerals.

James Kenneth Glassman served as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs in 2008-2009. In the U.S. political sphere, he is particularly close to the Bush family, as he is the founder of their family think tank in Washington. The George W. Bush Institute is focused on developing solutions in the best interests of the Democratic Party and provided support for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.⁶

Glassman gained extensive influence in the U.S. media by traveling a long way from journalist and publisher to economic policy maker. He is considered a father of “journalistic lobbying” characterized by drops of promoted stories in the information space – “independent” op-eds confirming the necessary position in favor of lobbyists. As Chairperson of Glassman Enterprises, LLC, a Washington-based PR firm, he is particularly active in health and energy lobbying.

Qorvis

In May 2022, SCM Consulting contracted Qorvis, a Washington-based PR firm, to promote Akhmetov’s philanthropy.

According to the agreement, “Qorvis will specifically engage in earned media efforts, including but not limited to pitching to media, client-identified spokespeople, press releases, photos and video provided by client.” The important nature of such a collaboration is further evidenced by the fact that the company’s CEO and Executive VP, Matt Jay Lauer, leads Qorvis’ five-person team for SCM⁷:

• Lauer worked at the U.S. State Department under Colin L. Powell, America’s Promise, Envision EMI, LLC, South Carolina Democratic Party, under John Edwards in the United States Senate and the Democratic National Committee.⁸
• Brad Klapper, a head of Qorvis Washington office, was a reporter of the U.S. State Department under John Kerry and Hillary Clinton with a focus on the Middle East, nuclear nonproliferation, sanctions policy, U.S.-Russia tensions, and U.S.-China relations.⁹
• Kristina Baum served as a senior communications officer at the White House, both houses of Congress, a chief spokesperson for Chevron Phillips, and Qorvis VP. In previous positions, she dealt with national security matters and still holds Top Secret/SCI security clearance.¹⁰
• Nicolla Hewitt is the owner of a consulting firm maintaining media communications with first tier media giants, such as Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, NBC, CNBC, Fox, ABC, Washington Post, Financial Times, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, and others.
• Anthony Carl Dykes is Qorvis Senior Advisor for Corporate Strategic Communications.

The FARA report highlights the maintenance of public relations and public policy strategy regarding SCM-related matters, preparation of press releases, newsletters, and analytical materials. Qorvis’ mission through Nicola Hewitt was to host interviews and engage media to participate in SCM events and projects in an attempt to influence American audiences and officials, and to that end, the firm has connections with major media outlets in the U.S. and Europe, such as Washington Post, Washington Life, Politico, and others.

For SCM, Qorvis arranged an interview with Yuriy Ryzhenkov about Mariupol events for the Akhmetov Foundation and Museum (ABC News/GMA, USA Today, CNN). In addition, the firm set up interviews with USA Today, LA Times (Laura King), and Business Insider (Sam Tabahriti) about Ukraine’s recovery and Rinat Akhmetov.

They also worked with representatives of political think tanks. Qorvis engaged Hudson Institute (Ann Marie Hauser) and Brookings Institution who were offered to meet the DTEK and Metinvest top management for “third-party outreach.”

Qorvis Communications acting on behalf of Akhmetov brokered cooperation with American strategic think tanks, such as CEIP, CSIS, Atlantic Council, Los Angeles World Affairs Council and Town Hall, World Affairs Council of Greater Houston, World Affairs Council of Atlanta, Council on Foreign Relations, Foreign Policy Research Institute, Aspen Institute, Baker Institute, and RAND Corporation in connection with a request for an event.

Akhmetov took the initiative in communicating with SigmaBleyzer/Daar through Qorvis to schedule a personal meeting with leadership, company interaction, acquaintance and exchange of information about possible cooperation. This looks pretty spectacular, as SigmaBleyzer is a long-standing member of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council along with Akhmetov’s SCM and belong to the same financial industry group.

The Bleyzer family are Ukrainian-American immigrants from Kharkiv Oblast (which makes them close to the Akhmetov clan). DAAR, a U.S.-registered globalist non-profit charity focused on Ukraine, has been working for over twenty years.¹¹ Ustenko, Head of the Bleyzer Foundation, took part in various projects of the World Bank, OECD, governments of CIS member countries and leading universities, including Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In 2019, the Bleyzers faced a wave of lawsuits launched by UkrGasVydobuvannya to seize their assets. Michael Bleyzer poses as a Ukrainian corruption fighter and advocates functional capitalism which is “a reliable defense against Russia.” He has been linked to pro-Trump Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry, who appointed Bleyzer to serve on the committee overseeing Texas Emerging Technology Fund. Bleyzer was first on the list of candidates to be offered a seat on the management board of Naftogaz of Ukraine. UGV, a Naftogaz company, was named plaintiff in the lawsuit against Ukrainian Energy LLC (Texas, USA) incorporated to tap into the Ukrainian oil and gas sector.

In 2018, Aspect Holdings, LLC and Sigma Bleyzer Investment Group, LLC established the International Fund for Ukrainian Energy (IFUEL) to invest in Ukraine’s energy sector (the first fund approved over $100 million).

Also, Akhmetov communicated with Worldbridge Group and the Royal Government of Cambodia regarding invitations to the DTEK event at WEF.

Qorvis is owned by Publicis Groupe, a company of French origin and transnational in terms of geographical presence. Top management of Publicis Groupe reveals the influence of those within the asset management circles of Edmond de Rothschild¹² such as Michel Cicurel and Gerard Worms, scions of SAS owned by the Wallenberg family. The company is open for cooperation with any American client regardless of political affiliation. In turn, Publicis Groupe is owned by Leo Burnett and London-headquartered Saatachi&Saatachi associated with British conservatives and linked to attacks on laborists.¹³

Qorvis has an extensive record of using questionable methods to deal with tainted reputation. Qorvis is perfect for reshaping the oligarch’s image in the eyes of Western audiences in order to avoid possible blows to reputation of forces willingly cooperating and providing support. The company is known for solving fairly complex opinion management problems, particularly formed by the propaganda of dictatorships ranging from Bahrain to Saudi Arabia. Qorvis has been repeatedly accused of manipulating Wikipedia data, as the team of sockpuppets sought to whitewash the pages of its clients by taking down embarrassing information.

Qorvis has an extensive record of using questionable methods to deal with tainted reputation. Qorvis is perfect for reshaping the oligarch’s image in the eyes of Western audiences in order to avoid possible blows to reputation of forces willingly cooperating and providing support. The company is known for solving fairly complex opinion management problems, particularly formed by the propaganda of dictatorships ranging from Bahrain to Saudi Arabia. Qorvis has been repeatedly accused of manipulating Wikipedia data, as the team of sockpuppets sought to whitewash the pages of its clients by taking down embarrassing information.¹⁴

Jock “Farquhar” Mendoza-Wilson

Mendoza-Wilson is a key figure for Akhmetov’s long-standing, strong lobbying ties. He is a British national of Irish descent, Chairperson of the United Nations Global Compact in Ukraine, Director of International and Investor Relations at System Capital Management. He oversees philanthropic initiatives of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation; spoke about the expansion of aid to Donetsk Oblast as an element of influence on the region. He is in charge of organizing contacts with foreign institutions on behalf of Rinat Akhmetov.

He served as Regional Director at MMD, an Eastern European public affairs and communications consultancy previously deeply integrated into the extraction industry, including the Russian oil and gas sector, with offices in New York, Washington and Brussels, where he worked until 2005.

He also worked as Regional Director at Weber Shandwick PR, covering the Middle East and North Africa, on government-related projects. Based in Dubai, the company was included in public diplomacy initiatives of the U.S. Department of State.

Mendoza-Wilson is linked to key dialog venues for lobbying European and U.S. arms suppliers, energy companies, agriculture, and the international non-profit sector in Ukraine. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the EU-Ukraine Business Council with close ties to James Wilson, MMD Founder, from the time of his work at the consultancy. He also serves as Director of the British Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and is a counselor to the President of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council.¹⁵

EU-Ukraine Business Council. Akhmetov-owned SCM is a member of a group representing interests of the international financial sector and companies providing services in offshore jurisdictions in the Ukrainian market. The group includes both representatives of the World Bank, such as European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and sponsors of the International Finance Corporation, Visa and Mastercard, and boutique companies acting as mediators in shady deals and holding the oligarchs’ money.

The following indicates Akhmetov’s links to the British group of influence similar to the one that supervised and patronized Firtash. In addition to Jock Mendoza-Wilson, the Board of Directors of the British Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce includes Petr Baron, a British banker of Russian descent, a business angel and entrepreneur, who served as Director of VAB Bank previously owned by Oleh Bakhmatiuk. There was a high-profile embezzlement scandal, as Oleksandr Pisaruk, Chairperson of the Management Board of Raiffeisen Bank Aval, linked to Dmytro Firtash was suspected of misappropriation of UAH 1.2 billion in the case of VAB Bank.¹⁶

PHOTO FROM MENDOZA-WILSON’S FACEBOOK ACCOUNT, FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: CORY EGO, RICHARD BRADY, ANTHONY NICHOL, JOCK FARQUHAR MENDOZA-WILSON, RAYMOND DAVID MC ROBBIE, IGOR TKACZENKO

Among Mendoza-Wilson’s close associates are representatives of the European lobbying establishment with an accentuated British influence:

For example, Mendoza-Wilson’s close friend, Richard Brady (born in 1951), has strong ties with the City of London. He is reportedly expanding the circle of influence of the latter by means of Legal English classes, recruiting potential legal lobbyists for the City’s financial groups all over the world. Richard Brady’s biography had an abrupt turnabout when he decided to establish the British Legal Centre in order to teach Legal English and Law to foreign lawyers. This came following fast-tracked professional conversion from a City banker (formerly a prosecutor) into an English teacher. Initially, Richard’s educational activities were travel-related and centered in Eastern Europe, before expanding into MENA countries, similarly a high-priority region of influence for British financial circles. The organization also has offices in Brazil, Pakistan, UAE, Dublin, and Barbados.¹⁷

Mendoza-Wilson vigorously advocates Akhmetov’s interests by means of the EU-Ukraine Business Council in partnership with James Wilson. Wilson is a British communications expert with more than 25 years of experience in international business in Europe and Asia and in governmental relations. He is part of the Brussels-based pool of politicians, journalists and lobbyists and offers governments and businesses expert PR and strategic communications services.¹⁸ Over the past year, he has been active in fostering dialog around the extension of the grain deal and energy lobbying.

Wilson helped Gary Cartwright and Colin Stevens in promoted stories using resources of EU Reporter, EU Political Report, and EU Today. One of Cartwright’s partners was the Brussels Energy Club established by his personal friend Marat Teterev in which defended the leadership representing the corporate fossil fuel lobby.

Between 2015 and 2016, his political consultancy, MacMillan Public Affairs, along with a separate trading firm (which he founded), signed two contracts for an overall amount of €143,000 with Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear energy company Energoatom. These contracts were made to host public events and provide “strategic policy consultations,” according to the energy agency. He published one of the articles under a separate title as Director of the EU-Ukraine Business Council, a Ukrainian industry lobby group that was awarded one of Energoatom’s contracts.

Akhmetov-owned DTEK colluded with Energoatom (SE NNEGC Energoatom). Companies “sold air” in Ukraine’s spot electricity market. Energoatom intentionally set an inflated price for electricity in the day-ahead market. As a result, a part of its resources was not sold and went to the balancing market where such electricity was purchased by DTEK, an energy company owned by Rinat Akhmetov, at one kopiyka per megawatt hour. This was offered to consumers at around UAH 3,000 per megawatt hour. Consequently, Energoatom lost about a billion hryvnias which DTEK earned. Among the side effects of this scheme were high electricity prices even in a situation of surpluses.¹⁹

Wilson has been at the helm of FIPRA International since 2017 with a focus on country operations in Ukraine and was appointed partner of the agency along with Marcus Stober (representing Sweden’s interests and affiliated with the German Marshall Fund of the United States) and Ivan Poltavets directly linked to Akhmetov.²⁰

He is Director and Founder of the EU-Ukraine Business Council established in 2006, in Belgium, to facilitate trade and investment between the EU and Ukraine. He has been General Director of Kyiv Brussels Network since 2015. International Foundation for Better Governance, a non-profit organization established by Wilson, promotes aid for Ukraine in cooperation with the Akhmetov Foundation.²¹

As a founder of EU Political Report, he is known for his practice of blurring the lines between journalism and paid advocacy. Not long ago, he hosted grain deal lobbying events with a focus on the fertilizer problem in an attempt to alert EU authorities (European Commission, European Parliament), governments of EU member states, global media, and international organizations to the problems of production and export of Ukrainian agricultural products amid Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine in order to improve the current status quo of the Ukrainian agricultural industry.

FIPRA

FIPRA (Finsbury International Policy & Regulatory Advisers) is an extensive European network of public relations advisers specializing in policy and regulatory consulting and advice. According to FIPRA, they are the only consulting firm with Brussels public relations advisers in all EU and CIS member countries and China.

Founded by James Wilson, the Ukrainian FIPRA office is represented by Sweden- incorporated Stober, Poltavets & Associates AB (SP&A). According to official data, the office is headed by Karl Johan Marcus Stober and a former Ukrainian employee of Akhmetov’s think tank Ivan Poltavets.²² As part of their activities in partnership with FIPRA, he managed numerous public relations projects serving multinational corporations. He monitored, analyzed and advised on economic policy at the Bureau for Economic and Social Technologies established by System Capital Management.²³ In 2023, Poltavets was appointed Senior Strategy Manager of Regulatory Affairs at Canada-based TELUS Communications.²⁴

Akhmetov has been creating his own think tank, though, little is known to the general public regarding its activities. Judging by the data available, however, it becomes clear that the SCM Bureau for Economic and Social Technologies (BEST) was established to build stable connections in Brussels for the promotion of European integration and liberalization of trade with Ukraine²⁵. Former BEST employees are currently representatives of the largest lobbying networks. These networks have a tangible influence on the course of trade cooperation²⁶ and the development of the EU-Ukraine comprehensive support policy²⁷. For example, SP&A partner Ihor Poltavtsev is a former BEST adviser. Svitlana Taran (a former BEST researcher) and Amanda Paul (Senior Eurasia Adviser for Stober, Poltavets & Associates, Turkey and Ukraine Expert) are expert team members at the European Policy Center (EPC) providing information research for decision-making in the European Parliament. EPC is financed by the King Baudoin Foundation which, in turn, is under the financial patronage of Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley.

According to Marcus Stober²⁸, Managing Partner at SP&A facilitating Sweden-Switzerland- Ukraine cooperation, Ukrainian companies should be more active in Brussels for efficient lobbying. Stober is also the head of Switzerland-based division of Alpine Global Counsel and Non-Executive Director of Belgium’s OpenForum Europe. Stober was previously a Brussels lobbyist and for more than a decade has managed international outreach programs. His areas of expertise include open source and cybersecurity, digital supply chains and public policy in international digital governance.

SP&A Senior Eurasia Adviser Amanda Paul also works as a Senior Policy Analyst in the “Europe in the World Program” at the European Policy Center (EPC).²⁹ EPC is one of the largest think tanks and lobbying organizations in Europe. It is operated by high-ranking representatives of EU institutions, whose members are top managers of multinational corporations and banking elites who finance EPC through the King Baudouin Foundation³⁰. Amanda Paul has well-established expertise on matters related to Turkey, Ukraine, security and conflict resolution in the Black Sea region, Russian foreign policy in former Soviet regions, and EU enlargement. At the EPC, Amanda leads the Ukraine’s European Future and Global Turkiye projects, Security and Conflict Resolution in the South Caucasus. She also serves as Senior Associate Research Fellow at the International Center for Policy Studies in Kyiv.

Connections of the parent company in FIPRA’s Belgium location indicate a dominant British influence and are of some interest from the viewpoint of financial flows of the lobbying conglomerate. The Fipra International parent company has several related entities:

• Fipra International B.V. under control of British national Laura Beatrice Sinclair Batchelor who is in responsible for health and biotech communications and overall governance.
• UK-based Fipra International Holdings Ltd. was previously 75% owned by its Brussels­based parent company. Officially, the related defunct company was managed and owned by Rory Bryan Duncan Chisholm, an offspring of the Hennessy of Windlesham family³¹, who bought back shares in Fipra International Holdings Ltd. in 2016 and became its beneficiary owner. His brother, Alexander James Chisholm, was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB).
• Rory was one of the FIPRA founders in 2000. Until 2016, he was a partner in both FIPRA and Finsbury, a strategic and financial communications consultancy. From 1988 to 2000, he worked as a political consultant at GJW Government Relations Ltd in London.
• He gained extensive NATO contacts under the leadership of Peter Tulkens: The Polit Bureau BVBA (now Politics Matters (BV) with assets estimated at €800,000 as of 2022.32

Trident Trust

Trident Trust is an offshore registrar offering asset management services around the world. According to Panama Papers, the trust was a long-standing intermediary for Akhmetov.

The record shows Akhmetov as a “well-known client” for international registrars and often commissions their services, for example, taking out a loan from an international bank to buy a luxurious jet. Another case, in a letter to Trident Trust, as of 29 October 2014, Akhmetov’s representatives insisted that two new offshore companies, Inglen Investments Limited and Pluscom Holdings Limited, should be registered as soon as possible. They refused to provide any further information, “as the parent companies and beneficiary owner are all well-known to the agent.” The providers accepted the order with no further questions asked. Lawyers, filing incorporation papers, stated “jet ownership” as the object of new companies, the investigation says. Two months later, on 16 December 2014, one of these shell companies obtained a loan from Credit Suisse to purchase a Falcon 7X executive jet with the tail number P4-SCM. The market value of this jet easily surpasses $50 million.³³ Journalists also revealed that Trident Trust had been cooperating with Akhmetov up until 2018 at least.³⁴

RINAT AKHMETOV’S PERMANENT GROUP OF LOBBYISTS

Dutch Financial Network

In 2022, an investigation led by Investico, based on annual reports, Leaked papers and interviews with former FBI agents, revealed that Akhmetov had a Long-standing relationship with the Dutch banking sector, especially ING Group, cemented by large-scale financial schemes. By using the Dutch financial sector, he borrowed whopping amounts and conducted sensitive offshore transactions unchecked.

On 21 May 2001, Akhmetov established his first Dutch company, Metinvest B. V. 16 incorporated by the law firm and notary public Houthoff Buruma to consolidate his steel and mining businesses. A few years later, he registered DTEK with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry which became the 17th energy division of his rapidly expanding empire. Additionally, he worked with Dutch banks, ABN Amro and ING, which granted him multibillion-dollar loans, as well as with the Amsterdam branch of Deutsche Bank.

Foreign banks, Barclays in particular, began distancing themselves from Akhmetov around 2015 after he was repeatedly linked to money laundering and corruption schemes. These reports and circumstances, however, did not require the oligarch to leave the Netherlands. According to the FinCEN files, ING also received numerous payments. In May 2014, Akhmetov, over a course of five days, transferred $145.5 million from a personal BVI company to ING Bank. Despite these suspicious transfers, ING Bank did not question Akhmetov regarding the origin of funds.

Fully aware of the high risks, ING Bank granted Metinvest steel and mining company 1.5 billion dollars in 2018, only three years after Barclays blocked the company’s bank accounts. In the same year, ING, Deutsche Bank Amsterdam, and a few other banks provided Metinvest with a loan for over $2.2 billion for restructuring its outstanding debt. Until recently, at least five Dutch pension scheme providers, including retail, POSTNL, and KLM, had outstanding loans extended to Akhmetov’s companies.

Though not at all surprising, ING had a reputation for participating in corrupt money laundering schemes in Eastern Europe. Reports exist of a high-profile money laundering case involving the questionable earnings of Russian oligarchs, amounting to hundreds of millions of euros, being siphoned off through the bank’s Russian subsidiary as part of the laundromat organized by Troika Dialog.³⁵

Commercial companies owned by Akhmetov and his business partner Vadym Novynskyi are registered in the Netherlands. In 2019, ITPS, a trust office which managed several companies, obtained the so-called “aanwijzing” from De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) over failed customer audits and, according to one of the owners, has since been dissolved. Since last year, Akhmetov’s Dutch companies have been run by several former trust office employees meaning that these companies are effectively out of any DNB control.³⁶

Atlantic Council

The leadership of the Atlantic Council includes an extensive list of former U.S. military commanders and government officials. The Atlantic Council is an analytical center funded by NATO, the defense industry and Gulf monarchies.

One of Akhmetov’s major assets, System Capital Management, makes an annual donation to the center in an amount ranging from $500,000 to $999,000.37 Anders Aslund, an influential member of the Atlantic Council, changed his stance from fierce criticism of Akhmetov to active cooperation due to the influence of Jock Mendoza-Wilson. The financial support of the Council and countering Russia contributed to the development of a joint strategic line with Akhmetov’s official representatives well received within its close circle of associates.

The controversial role of the Atlantic Council in relation to interests in the region and the corrupt nature of its actions is insightful for understanding the style and philosophy of working with Ukrainian oligarch clans. From 2017 to 2019, the organization was engaged to whitewash Burisma’s tarnished reputation for the benefit of the U.S. Democratic Party after a bribery probe into the firm and owner, Mykola Zlochevskyi. During these few years, Burisma offered the Atlantic Council an annual $100,000. As part of their partnership, the Atlantic Council and Burisma held several events in Washington, New York, and Kyiv. Zlochevskyi, a Burisma owner, served in the Yanukovych administration and left Ukraine following the revolution, and thus, losing any effective control of the company.

Hunter Biden joined the board of Burisma Holdings in May 2014 despite his lack of experience in the Ukrainian gas industry and was in charge of international orders. He also participated in the merger of Burisma with a U.S. consulting firm systemically linked to the Clinton Administration, Blue Star Strategies, established by two board members of the Atlantic Council. Joe Biden was a chief liaison between the Obama Administration and Ukraine. Burisma invited several high-ranking Europeans and Americans to join its board, including Aleksander Kwasniewski, former Polish President, and Cofer Black, former CIA top staffer. ³⁸

Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL)

A Florida-based consultancy, now dissolved, potentially served as Akhmetov’s principal intermediary in financing Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), who won in Florida, hence, returning her party to the 222-seat majority it previously held following the November 2020 elections.

In 2021, the main source of the representative’s income was SCM Consulting Group LLC. Her income in consulting fees from SCM was listed as $5,745,793. This was “the reported amount of consulting fees and profit sharing fees received for work at Trinity Health Care Services Inc.,” as stated in papers. Links between SCM Consulting Group and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick’s financial network⁵⁹

LINKS BETWEEN SCM CONSULTING GROUP AND SHEILA CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK’S FINANCIAL NETWORK

On March 12, SCM Consulting Group LLC filed as a business and health consulting firm and Cherfilus-McCormick was listed as a registered agent, according to state corporation records.⁴⁰

Representative Cherfilus-McCormick takes a very active stance in support of Ukraine, Advocating for the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act, which reduces bureaucratic hurdles and expedites the delivery of military aid.⁴¹ Along with Congressman Ted W. Lieu, she presented the “Russia is a State Sponsor of Terrorism Act,” bipartisan legislation officially designating Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. Based on the sanctions initially adopted by the Congress, the bill further isolates Russia and toughens economic repercussions for Putin’s regime.⁴²

VADIM VlLADYSLAVOVYCH NOVYNSKYI

VADIM VLADYSLAVOVYCH NOVYNSKYI

Vadym Novynskyi was seen as a major figure in the alliance with Rinat Akhmetov. Novynskyi-owned Smart Holding Group held a 24% interest in Metinvest mining company. Though previously having Russian citizenship, he made the decision to swap it for a Ukrainian passport. He was a member of the Ukrainian Parliament as a member of the Party of Regions. In the Last convocation of the Verkhovna Rada, he was elected as an Opposition Bloc candidate. Forbes estimated his fortune at $1.4 billion.⁴³

In February 2022, Novynskyi and Akhmetov visited Mariupol to only briefly return to Kyiv. A few hours before Russia’s invasion, however, he fled the country. He is currently believed to be residing in Estonia. He was placed on the sanctions lists and all his accounts with Ukrainian banks are blocked. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) arrested “hidden assets” of the former deputy Vadym Novynskyi worth UAH 10.5 billion which included 230 real estate properties allegedly owned through offshore companies. Among them a luxurious hotel in downtown Kyiv, Port Ochakiv, facilities of the agricultural holding company and shopping malls in several regions of Ukraine.

Smart Energy’s oil and gas division includes Ukrgazvydobutok gas producing company (Kharkiv Oblast) and UK-based Enwell Energy having listed assets in Poltava (a representative office of Regal Petroleum Corporation Limited and Arkona Gaz-Energia LLC) and Kharkiv Oblasts (Prom-Energo Produkt).

In January 2023, Smart Holding released a statement that as part of the company’s restructuring efforts Novynskyi decided to sell his shares in the company by assigning his interest to a trust. He signed respective agreements with Smart Trust and Step Trust in November 2022 which then were registered by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission. Novynskyi does not have any beneficial interest in the Group, nor does he exercise any control over the Group’s activities or processes.⁴⁴

In 2011, Akhmetov and Novynskyi created an agricultural holding company from agricultural assets of Mariupol-based Illich Steel and Iron Works. In 2018, the company acquired Agro­Holding MS, specialized in crop farming in Kyiv and Zhytomyr Oblasts.

HarvEast Holding is owned by Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM and Vadym Novynskyi’s Smart Holding. The holding company lost almost all land due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ordained as a deacon of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), Novynskyi has repeatedly criticized the Ukrainian authorities over their attitude towards the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Conclusions

Rinat Akhmetov looks like a consensus figure closer to the British-Dutch group. Strategic communications are currently shifted towards the more influential pro-American transnational elite. Akhmetov has effectively lost all domestic allied support. A heterogeneous confederation of the Donetsk-based clans around Akhmetov at feud with each other, yet united in the face of a threat, became a thing of the past as a result of Russia’s occupation of territories. These clans no longer act in any sort of coordinated fashion. Oligarch consigliere Novynskyi retired after having transferred his interest in Metinvest to a blind trust.

Akhmetov’s attempt to establish a liaison with the Bleyzers close to Trump who repelled a production site attack on their Naftogaz subsidiary could be considered a step to consolidate efforts to fend off a rising wave of privatizations and asset grabs. Similarly, it could be seen as a form of intermediary for a dialog with British stakeholders.

Financial circles of the U.S. Democratic Party, with strategic institutions with which Akhmetov is building bridges, seek to nationalize the oligarch’s assets that survived after Russia’s occupation of the Donbas region. Akhmetov continues to carry on a dialog with European partners, Brussels, through his personal “minister of foreign affairs,” Jock Mendoza-Wilson who has links to FIPRA, one of the largest British-born lobbying and intelligence networks in Europe. Multidimensional contacts maintained by the above­mentioned intermediary highlight his status, not as a mere partner for Akhmetov, but in an overseer’s role acting on behalf of the City of London seeking to influence energy and mining industries in the country as is the case with Raymond Asquith. Through FIPRA and James Wilson’s media and intelligence circles, Akhmetov has access to dialog with Brussels. Previously, Akhmetov had active contacts with European think tanks through the aforementioned FIPRA to promote a free trade zone in the EU in the best interest of his business. Mendoza-Wilson is also part of the leadership of large lobbying entities, such as, the British Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce, EU-Ukraine Business Council, U.S.-Ukraine Business Council.

Firtash’s and Akhmetov’s connections in the City meet thanks to an existing chain: Mendoza- Wilson – British Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce – Petr Baron – VAB Bank – Raiffeisen. Previously, Akhmetov had impressive leverage in the Ukrainian government, while Firtash dominated the Yanukovych-Lyovochkin presidential administration and was one of the main sponsors for the Party of Regions, also linking him to Poroshenko.

The Russian aggression is defining lines of communications with international organizations, strategic centers and political lobbyists and is obviously aligned with the public line of the arms lobby. Actions taken by Akhmetov and representatives of the Democratic Party are all about coordinating efforts, financing of joint initiatives and their advocacy against the Russian aggression in public space. They are, however, far from being designated as a fully functional alliance. Besides, Akhmetov actively sponsors the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He also promotes the condemnation of Russia’s war crime and terrorism and placement on the FATF list, including with the help of congressmen. It is most likely that Akhmetov’s most active emissary promoting similar initiatives in the Congress is Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) whose electoral campaign was generously sponsored by SCM Consulting. Influential Americans advocate confiscation of currently frozen Russian assets and the oligarch uses these sentiments as a great opportunity to regain influence.

The goal of rapprochement has been achieved, since Akhmetov is in no immediate jeopardy of facing “deoligarchization,” as an administrative tool to contain figures deemed to be a threat to the establishment of the U.S. control over Ukrainian assets. Despite generally positive strategic relations with the U.S. elite of real power in Ukraine, Akhmetov’s large assets can only mean that escalation against the BlackRock stakeholders is delayed for the time being. Akhmetov remains at the top of the Forbes Ukraine rankings and ambitiously demonstrates the desire to regain dominance of his political will in Kyiv despite unfathomable losses. The oligarch’s political influence is currently at its lowest in the last years of the decade, as he has no media or lawmakers.

DMYTRO VASYLOVYCH FIRTASH

Firtash’s empire consists of chemical, banking and media assets. He is considered to be one of the oligarchs closest to Viktor Yanukovych.

DMYTRO VASYLOVYCH FIRTASH

In 2021, Ukraine sanctioned him for alleged titanium shipments to Russian defense companies and his personal assets and bank accounts were frozen.

Oleh Arestarkhov, Head of Communications at Group DF, claimed that hearings regarding contested charges in enforcement of sanctions and

Ukrainian security services failed to provide any evidence on the decision.

Firtash previously controlled RosUkrEnergo, a joint venture formed in partnership with Raiffeisen Investment and Russia’s Gazprom, overseeing supplies of Russian gas to Europe across Ukraine, and Centragas which held the exclusive right to sell Turkmenian gas in Ukraine. Initially, RosUkrEnergo was established by Firtash, Rothschild, British entrepreneur Robert Shetler-Jones and Jewish businessman, linked to criminal activity, Semen Mohylevych. According to WikiLeaks files, Firtash told the U.S. ambassador that he had employed services offered by Semen Mohylevych to protect his business from competitors.

The most prominent group among Dmytro Firtash’s connections is British conservative elites seeking to slow down Brexit and retain control over the EU and Chinese financial operations. It is these forces behind Jeremy Hunt who replaced Boris Johnson as the UK Foreign Secretary. Formally, MI6 (SIS) reports to him. This group is closely linked to the Asquith family known for its many-sided partner relations with the oligarch. The Asquith family used Firtash to create an extensive network of influence in Ukraine. The role of transnational enforcer in one of the largest privately-owned oil and gas companies, operating in the post­Soviet space, allowed Asquith to ensure control over Ukrainian assets and political processes by using Firtash’s resources and influence.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) eventually ousted the oligarch. Numerous lawsuits against Firtash followed the struggle for influence of the U.S. and UK globalist elites for control over gas, telecommunications and mining industries in Ukraine.

The U.S. defense industry (whose interests in Ukraine are promoted by Pinchuk) adopted a strategy to seize critical resources in Ukraine by opening criminal cases. The U.S. titanium imports have soared to 90% which is a vulnerability in supply chains. Titanium is used in modern airplanes and helicopters, tanks, submarines and ships, missiles and other munitions. Ukraine’s colossal titanium reserves are estimated at 184 million tons, worth over $300 billion, and making up 20% of the world’s supply. Mezhyrichenskyi Mining and Beneficiation Plant, a Firtash’s Group DF company, is the owner of the Selyshchanskyi titanium deposits with an area of 1,857 hectares located in Zhytomyr Oblast.

On 12 March 2014, Firtash was arrested in Austria on a U.S. warrant issued by the State of Illinois, which could be considered a step taken by the Chicago alliance of Barack Obama and John Kerry⁴⁵. Prior to the arrest, discussions took place regarding titanium supplies to Boeing headquartered in Illinois. Firtash was charged with bribery for an overall amount of $18.5 million, as he sought permissions for titanium ore extraction in India for the further sale of finished products to the U.S.

The Austrian court resumed hearings on the case of Ukrainian businessman Firtash, having blocked his extradition to the U.S. His defense is led by former Austrian Minister of Justice Dieter Bohmdorfer representing the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPO). The interests of the oligarch were also represented by Lanny J. Davis & Associates. In 2021, Dmytro Firtash was appointed Adviser to the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Belarus to International Organizations in Vienna. As a result, he demands extradition to the U.S. be suspended due to his diplomatic immunity. Firtash was also an intermediary acting on behalf of Gazprom and the Kremlin in arranging the gas transit across Ukraine.⁴⁶

Over 70% of gas distributions in Ukraine is locked in at Dmytro Firtash owned Regional Gas Company. Every month, operators of gas distribution networks (Zakarpatgaz, Lvivgaz, Vinnytsiagaz, Dnipropetrovskgaz and Khmelnytskgaz) withdrew 120 to 150 million cubic meters of gas without pay which siphoned off about $550 million of liquidity from the GTS operator.

SBU conducted mass searches in 14 gas distribution companies of the businessman’s Regional Gas Company whose board includes former British spy Raymond Asquith. SBU did not make any official announcements but mass media mentioned searches claiming that law enforcers were investigating a scheme of illegal withdrawal of funds paid for consumed gas. The company issued a statement that searches “were carried out on preposterous charges of allegedly stealing public funds,” “RGC considers searches followed by blatant human rights violations to be coercion of employees of critical infrastructure enterprises. We believe that the criminal case which became the reason for the searches was opened only to put pressure on the enterprises which NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine, represented by NJSC Chornomornaftogaz, is trying to grab.” As a result, Gas Distribution Networks of Ukraine, a Naftogaz Group company, took over Firtash-owned distribution networks in several Ukrainian regions.

The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office also investigated Firtash’s involvement in the infamous privatization of the monopolistic ISP Ukrtelecom carried out without competitive bidding and accompanied by financial fraud.

There were reports that the Tory party received nearly £200,000 from Firtash-linked associates and the Harlow Conservative Party received £40,000 from Shetler-Jones who had been the CEO of Firtash’s holding company Group DF. He had given in his own name and via a company called Scythian.⁴⁷

DMITRY FIRTASH’S PRIVATE FINANCIAL NETWORK

Asquith Family

The Asquith family opened all doors leading Firtash to the British elite, making sure he was welcome in the British elite circles. Raymond Benedict Bartholomew Michael Asquith, Lord Oxford, is an ally of Dmytro Firtash, peer of the realm, former spy, and post-Soviet elite expert. Asquith headed the MI6 resident agency in Moscow. He rose to prominence in the secret services in 1985 when he exfiltrated KGB double agent Oleg Gordievsky from the Soviet Union hidden in a car trunk. Asquith is the 3rd Earl of Oxford and Asquith and a member of the House of Lords. He is the great-grandson of former WWI British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith.

Following his diplomatic service, Asquith worked for Firtash-owned JKX Oil & Gas as Director of the largest British investor in Ukraine⁴⁸ from 10 November 1997 until his resignation on 28 January 2016. The company also had a large interest owned by Ihor Kolomoyskyi. According to some sources, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko is Asquith’s protege.⁴⁹

In addition to his partnership with Firtash, Asquith pursued his own interests in the region, developing financial and biotech companies, such as Zander Corporation, Dessna, Asset Management⁵⁰. Asquith founded and headed The Ukrainian Catholic Foundation.⁵¹ He is also a member of the Council on Geostrategy. Curiously, the Council on Geostrategy is a member of the Development, Concepts and Doctrine Center’s “Global Strategic Partnership” run by RAND Europe. This consortium provides academic and analytical support to the UK Ministry of Defense. The Council on Geostrategy attended the Trilateral Commission’s Warsaw Dialog.⁵²

In 2005, Firtash invested $1 million in Asquith-run green company to get a 25% stake in the business. The next year, Shetler-Jones combined his Ukrainian business with the Firtash- owned company and became Deputy Chairperson of the Supervisory Council at Group DF. The picture of British connections would be incomplete without the fact that Prince Philip, the husband of then British Queen Elizabeth, honorary chancellor of Cambridge University, appointed Firtash as one of the university’s honorary patrons.⁵³

The assets of the oligarch have become a landmark target for globalist elites, by all accounts linked to the Asquith family both historically and currently. Raymond’s brother, Dominic Asquith, was a co-founder of Macro Advisory Partners, a firm with close ties to the intelligence circle in the Bilderberg Club – Jake Sullivan, John Sawers, and William Burns. The board of Macro Advisory Partners included Kofi Annan, who through his wife is linked to the Swedish Wallenberg family, and are also permanent members of the financial bloc of the Bilderberg Meeting.⁵⁴

Prior to his peerage as Lord Oxford, he ran a lobbying firm, Asquith & Granovsky (later Asquith & Granovski) Associates, for several years.

Isabel Asquith, Raymond’s daughter, has been a member of the Raedars board ever since. Its connections stem from cooperation with the Oak Foundation and Soros’ Open Society Foundation through Financial Investigations For Non-Profit Design (FIND) set up as a spin­off of Raedars.⁵⁵

British Ukrainian Society (BUS)

The mission of the British Ukrainian Society established by Anthony Fisher and Dmytro Firtash is to strengthen relations between politicians of the two countries and to represent Ukrainian business and culture in the UK. The society does not carry out any public activities, although it is quite active as a legal entity. It is logical to assume that the British Ukrainian Society is only a cover for MI6 agents of influence in the region – Robert Shetler-Jones, Lord Oxford and Lord Risby. Simply explained, BUS was set up in February 2007 as a privately- owned entity with two directors – Robert Shetler-Jones and Richard Spring. The latter was created a life peer as Lord and Baron Risby of Haverhill in the County of Suffolk. Since March 2015, he has also been mentioned as the founder of the Ukraine Modernization Agency.

Robert Shetler-Jones is one of the closest associates of Dmytro Firtash and deemed to be his financial consigliere. He was CEO of Group DF, a Firtash-owned parent company, from its inception in 2007 to August 2012 and he still runs the group through the intermediary company, GENTECH Holding GmbH. Currently, he is a Member of the Group Supervisory Council chaired by Firtash. BUS shares the same office building in Knightsbridge with Scythian Limited, a company run by Shetler-Jones (he is listed as its CEO in BUS constituent documents) and specializing in acquisition of Eastern European assets. One of Shetler- Jones’s top priorities is to build business relationships with Ukrainian contractors in the best interest of the City and British intelligence agencies.

According to the UK Electoral Commission, Scythian Limited financed conservative electoral campaigns. Among its contacts were such Conservative MPs, as Richard John Grenville Spring, Baron Risby, John Whittingdale and Robert Halfon.

Anthony Fisher is a strategic communications expert and CEO of several nonprofit organizations, such as BUS, Founding Director of the EU-Ukraine Business Council, Head of Bonita Trust, former CEO of Granovski Associates. Fisher is deeply integrated into intelligence proxy structures.

On 15 February 2008, Anthony Fisher, Alex Walsh and Jack Wakefield established a charity on behalf of Firtash, DF Foundation. Jack Wakefield, brother-in-law of⁵⁶ Dominic Mckenzie Cummings, is a political strategist who served as Chief Adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Fisher is a founder of Global Strategy Limited providing institutional and private clients with strategic and communications advice. He is also Director of Scythian Limited, a consultancy focused on structuring corporate acquisitions in former Soviet Union countries. He advised several governments, was posted to the Government of Gibraltar as its first Director for Development of the Financial Center and served as an advisor to the Maltese Government.

Elizabeth Smith, Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill, is a patron of the arts and a member of the BUS Advisory Council. In 1995, she was created a life peer as Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill. As an Advisory Council Member of the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce, she has a special interest in Russia and CIS member countries. She embarked upon a career at the Great Britain – USSR Association, which was later renamed the British East-West Center (BEWC),⁵⁷ maintaining dialog and contacts with countries of the then Soviet Union and funded mainly by the British Foreign Office. Working in close rapport with Sir Fitzroy Maclean, President of the GB-USSR Association, she realized the importance of defying stereotypes by bringing people together while sharing mutual experiences.⁵⁹

The baroness directed several major festivals of British culture and is currently President of the Scottish Opera and Trustee of the Mariinsky Theater Trust⁵⁸. In addition, she also serves on the boards of several organizations with interests in Ukraine and other countries of the former Soviet Union. She is a member of the management board of the Center for European Reform. Baroness Smith heads the John Smith Fellowship Trust funding young professionals from Ukraine and other countries to come to the UK to study the democracy and good governance. The program is sponsored by the British Foreign Office.

Terry Sandell is a founder of the British Council in the Soviet Union. Between 2005 and 2008, he opened and served as Director of the British Council Ukraine. Mr. Sandell was a trustee of several arts and cultural organizations and actively cooperated with the Council of Europe and the European Union, working on cultural policy, as well as on projects of cultural and capacity development in Ukraine and other former Soviet countries.

Ihor Mitiukov served as Managing Director of Morgan Stanley Ukraine when he joined BUS. Today, he is the Senior Adviser. He also holds a position on Ukrposhta’s Supervisory Council⁶⁰. His political and diplomatic career included posts of the Minister of Finance and Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine. From 2002 to 2005, he was the Ukrainian Ambassador in the United Kingdom. From 1995 to 1997, Mr. Mitiukov served as Ukraine’s Special Representative to the European Union in Brussels, with Vice Prime Ministerial status. From 1997 to 2001, he served as Minister of Finance of Ukraine. While in office, he ensured that Ukraine entered international capital markets in 1997.⁶¹ Until 2018, he was a permanent member of the Yalta European Strategy sponsored by the Pinchuk Foundation.⁶²

John Whittingdale was Minister of State for Media under Boris Johnson responsible for protecting Great Britain from misinformation and Secretary of State for Culture under David

Cameron. Previously, he served as Chair of the influential Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the House of Commons. In May 2023, he assumed office of the Minister of State for Media, Tourism and Creative Industries. Sir Whittingdale along with six other ministers voted against Brexit during the referendum. He is Head of the United Kingdom Delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and was appointed by OSCE PA President Margareta Cederfelt Special Rapporteur mandated to report on war crimes perpetrated in Ukraine.⁶³ He is a member of the Conservative Friends of Ukraine group.⁶⁴

Richard Spring, Lord Risby, served as Merrill Lynch VP before he was elected to parliament. He is also former Vice Chairperson of the Conservative Party and Shadow Minister for the Treasury. Currently, he is Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Algeria and Lebanon and BUS Chair. He is President of the Association for Decentralized Energy and Deputy Chairperson of the Small Business Bureau. From 2015 to 2018, he was a member of the EU External Relations Committee in the House of Lords. From 2020 to 2022, he was a member of the International Agreements Committee. Risby is Co-Chairperson of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Ukraine.⁶⁵ In his capacity as the then Chairperson of the British Ukrainian Society, he co-chaired the Scenarios for the Ukraine program of the World Economic Forum in Davos organized by Pinchuk.⁶⁶

Raiffeisen

Austria was the headquarters of Centragas Holding GmbH, a company officially holding a 50 percent interest in RosUkrEnergo. Here, the oligarch established close contacts with Raiffeisen, local elites, politicians and bankers.

Dieter Bohmdorfer, Austrian Minister of Justice from 2000 to 2004, is a personal attorney for the oligarch and the team of lawyers under his leadership received a court ruling not to grant the U.S. extradition request against Firtash. Like former Minister of Justice Dieter Bohmdorfer, Daniel Kapp, an oligarch PR manager, has close ties to the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) via its leader Josef Proll who runs Leipnik-Lundenburger, an investment company owned by Raiffeisen Holding. Previously, Raiffeisen covered Firtash when he was still hiding his involvement in RosUkrEnergo.⁶⁷

Michael Spindelegger was Proll’s former colleague from the Austrian Government and former Chairperson of the Austrian People’s Party (OVP) and also served as Vice Chancellor of Austria and Minister of Finance. He was engaged in whitewashing the tarnished reputation of the Ukrainian oligarch as Chairperson of the Ukraine Modernization Agency at Palais Ferstel⁶⁸ in order to invest $300 billion in the Ukrainian economy and attract prominent politicians to join the initiative. The potential list included EU Commissioners Gunter Verheugen, Stefan Fule and Peter Mandelson, former German Minister of Finance and Chancellor Candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) Peer Steinbruck and former French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Bernard Kouchner. The campaign was a failure as no one was willing to offer support.⁶⁹

Raiffeisen’s interests in Ukraine continue to expand. Raiffeisen Bank International took its digital banking business out of the European jurisdiction by moving from Austria to Ukraine.⁷⁰

RAIFFEISEN’S INTERESTS IN UKRAINE

Conclusions

Until recently, Dmytro Firtash has been a top player in Ukrainian gas, chemical and titanium industries. BUS, a powerful geostrategic group mainly composed of elite representatives from the North of England advocating Brexit and funded by the oligarch, created opportunities for implementation of the Global England concept temporarily strengthening its presence in Eastern Europe.

Firtash was a key element in the intelligence network of influence set up by Lord Raymond Asquith of MI6 whose assistance made it possible for the oligarch to obtain the British patronage as an adviser and local agent of interest. The allies in the City of London stayed away from the “dirty schemes” in exchange for an opportunity to make use of Firtash’s mediation in their dealings with Gazprom for the purposes of resources and political expansion in Ukraine.

Prior to the ousting of Viktor Yanukovych, a minion of Dmytro Firtash and Rinat Akhmetov, in 2014, the British energy-linked interests enjoyed extraordinary power and influence in Ukraine, especially by one shady company, RosUkrEnergo. Firtash controlled about two thirds of the gas supply market in Ukraine through regional gas companies. He gained fame as an oligarch who earned capital at the expense of Russian gas and was a key mediator of UK-Ukraine-Russia interests.

Under U.S. pressure, Firtash lost his positions in the oil and gas sector – Naftogaz expropriated his gas distribution business. The interest of U.S. elites towards the oligarch’s assets is further stressed by the fact that the seizure request and the lawsuit filed to seize Firtash’s titanium deposits came from Chicago, as Chicago-based elite groups have ties to Penny Pritzker, a BlackRock representative in Ukraine.

Representatives of the Firtash clan served as Head of the Presidential Administration, Minister of Energy and Vice Prime Minister for European Integration of the country. The projection of British influence is gradually weakening giving way to U.S. hegemony. The efficiency of British support and the protection of their groups of influence in the region could have been largely affected by changes in the attitudes of British intelligence agencies over Brexit prompting a more global vision of cooperation and disposition to compromise at the elite level due to growing consolidation of the largest BlackRock and Vanguard assets.

VICTOR MYKHAILOVICH PINCHUK

Born on 14 December 1960, Jew.

VICTOR MYKHAILOVYCH PINCHUK

Victor Pinchuk’s fortune is estimated at $2.1.⁷¹ He began his business empire in Dnipropetrovsk (now Dnipro) with a pipeline company, Interpipe Group. Later, he moved into the banking industry (Kredyt Dnipro) and launched a diversified business in the media sector.

Pinchuk’s main foreign partners are George Soros and his International Renaissance Foundation.

Pinchuk has a sizable influence on business in the country by manipulating the system for personal gain and on the gas market acting through his partners. Victor Pinchuk-owned Interpipe Inc. colluded with the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine to introduce extra duties of 52% for Vorex pipes. Naftogaz already awarded significant contracts to U.S. firms for oil and gas equipment. One of these companies, Pennsylvania-based Vorex, has been supplying Naftogaz with drill pipe and casings since 2017 and is the largest overseas supplier of pipe and equipment to Ukraine.⁷² The oligarch’s financial rise is attributed to his marriage to Leonid Kuchma’s daughter.

Pinchuk funded the 2012 report on imprisonment of the former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. It was over this, which the former White House Counsel Greg Craig and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom ended up in the crosshairs of Special Counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice Robert Mueller.⁷³

From 1998 to 2006, Pinchuk was a member of the parliament. In his 2005 book, “Virtual Politics: Faking Democracy in the Post-Soviet World,” Andrew Wilson of the University of London claims that in 2002, Pinchuk created a fake political party seeking to attract young people. Pinchuk’s TV stations aggressively promoted the party using it as a tool to steal opposition votes.

Pinchuk’s conflict with the Privat Group run by the duumvirate of Kolomoyskyi and Boholiubov was marked by accusations stating they paid $100 million to a foundation established by Kuchma for election campaigning and by their claims that Pinchuk eventually stole the money. Pinchuk refuted these statements, having accused the duo of seeking to exclude him from a deal to buy an iron ore mining company, KZhRK, one of the largest enterprises in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

On 4 March 2015, Ihor Kolomoyskyi, another Ukrainian oligarch, attending the hearings of the Special Control Commission on Privatization of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine accused Victor Pinchuk of accepting a bribe of $5 million per month for running Ukrnafta, a company in which state-owned Naftogaz of Ukraine had a 50 + 1% interest. According to Kolomoyskyi, the money was transferred to offshore companies, “whose ultimate owners have been identified” as Victor Pinchuk and Leonid Kuchma.⁷⁴

He is linked to Rinat Akhmetov through the establishment of the Investment Metallurgical Union, an industrial and financial consortium which acquired the Kryvorizhstal steel plant for $800 million. After the Orange Revolution, however, the Kyiv Commercial Court declared the sale of the plant illegal. In 2005, Kryvorizhstal was re-privatized and resold to UK-based Arcelor Mittal for 4.8 billion.

Pinchuk also gained a reputation as a philanthropist by having made his namesake foundation a discussion venue for Soros-linked organizations, NATO, IMF, Aspen Institute, Atlantic Council, and other influential political institutions. The boards and advisory councils of these organizations include BlackRock representatives carrying out a step-by-step takeover of the country. The largest foundations, BlackRock and The Vanguard Group, are owned by one another on a circular ownership basis. These foundations bring together the world’s richest families – Rockefeller, Rothschild, du Pont, Mellon⁷⁵, Wallenberg. Among BlackRock top managers are several retired CIA officers.⁷⁶

On 8 May, Zelenskyy and Fink signed a development agreement to establish the so-called Ukraine Development Fund (UDF) with BlackRock Financial Market Advisory (BlackRock FMA) funded by JP Morgan Bank. Under the program for privatization of the most profitable and liquid private, public and municipal assets, Black Rock planned to invest about $100 billion in UDF, which is more than two-thirds of Ukraine’s annual GDP.

According to the deal’s terms, BlackRock will manage Ukrainian assets, including the funds provided as part of “foreign aid.” Thus, Ukrainian strategic enterprises, including “nationalized” ones, will most likely end up under transnational control. This scheme will also be used to manage Ukraine’s foreign debt which, according to the Ministry of Finance, is approaching $150 billion, or 100% of the national GDP. Officially, the agreement is intended to attract investments in energy, infrastructure and agriculture, but due to the weak subsidized economy destroyed by the war, it leads to the seizure of Ukraine’s major assets on account of debt repayment – from ferti le black soi l to power grids.

Joe Biden appointed Penny Pritzker (a representative of Europe’s top-10 richest families from the Chicago group⁷⁷) as the United States Special Representative for Ukraine’s Economic Recovery at UDF, known for a failed initiative to create a single free trade area in the Pacific Ocean. Ms. Pritzker will build a top-down colonial operation by reforming the Ukrainian government “in the sphere of transparency and accountability of the country’s recovery, including total control of law enforcement, judicial system in the fight against corruption, management of state-owned enterprises.”

It should be emphasized that the Chicago-based Pritzker billionaire family are historically Jewish immigrants from Kyiv. The Pritzkers generously funded Obama and Biden. However, Penny Pritzker is in opposition to the Clintons who were supported by her brother⁷⁸ and allied with Pinchuk.

Pinchuk gained the trust of global philanthropists, and as an act of solidarity signed the Giving Pledge initiative backed by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett under which the ultra wealthy promise to give away at least half their assets by the time they die.

Family:

Victor’s parents worked in the science and steel-making industry. Among his ancestors are rabbis and melameds.

His spouse, Olena Pinchuk, is a daughter of the former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, and a founder of the ANTIAIDS Foundation. For nine years, she served as Deputy Marketing Director at the mobile communications provider, Kyivstar. In 2009, she took over the supervisory board of StarLightMedia operating STB, ICTV, Novyi, QTV, M1, M2, TV channels and some other media companies.

His daughter, Maria Viktorivna Pinchuk, went to Oxford. She is a shareholder of Dime Firm, a ferrous and non-ferrous metals trader co-owned by her grandfather, Mykhaylo Aronovych Pinchuk.

Assets:

• London-based EastOne Group.
• A branch of EastOne Equities, former EastOne Capital, a U.S.-based company purchasing, developing, redeveloping and managing properties, and providing property bonds. Established in 2016, the company purchases hotel, industrial, multi-purpose, office, retail and apartment properties in the northeastern and southeastern parts of the United States with a major focus on New York, Massachusetts, Florida, and New Jersey.
• EastOne controls Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant in partnership with Privat, a rival informal group run by Ihor Kolomoyskyi and Hennadiy Boholiubov.
• Interpipe Group, a steel and pipe maker in Ukraine.
• Most of Pinchuk’s links with European and American NGOs and clubs are organized by means of his charity, Victor Pinchuk Foundation. The foundation hosts the annual Philanthropic Roundtable during the World Economic Forum in Davos and cooperates with the Aspen Institute.

Atlantic Council

The Victor Pinchuk Foundation is one of the largest sponsors of the aforementioned Atlantic Council with annual donations of $249,000 to $500,000.79

Amicus Europae Foundation

Amicus Europae is a foundation established by the former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski. Its mission includes promotion of the European integration, neighborhood policy, Polish products, strengthening democratic principles and Ukrainian-Polish relations with a special focus on energy transition and energy security.

Executive Director of the Amicus Europae Foundation Ireneusz Bil worked at the National Security Bureau and the Office of the President of Poland as Director of the Office of International Cooperation and at the Office of the President for European Integration. In this capacity, he took part in negotiations about Poland’s NATO and EU membership. He is a member of the International Association of Energy Economics, a participant of numerous study programs and fellowships, including the U.S. Department of State, Bertelsmann Foundation, Zeit Foundation, Koerber Foundation – Munich Security Conference, a permanent YES panelist.

The foundation is forging relations with European national elites operating as part of the sustainable development model which is closest to the U.S. democratic elites. Competition with pro-Trump conservatives in the Ukrainian energy sector is characterized by the fact that the Ukrainian government reversed its decision No. 79-r as of 5 February 2020 to appoint Ireneusz Bil to the supervisory council of Naftogaz and instead added Robert Bensh as the U.S. representative.⁸⁰ Thus, causing Rick Perry, U.S. Secretary of Energy under Trump, to gain control over Ukraine’s oil and gas industry and force Kyiv to launch an investigation into the son of former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.

Best known to the public is GEM Managing Director for Europe Robert Bensh working in Ukraine since the 2000s. Furthermore, he is involved as a Pelicourt Managing Partner acting as a shareholder of one of the largest privately-owned Ukrainian gas producers, Cub Energy, and an interest holder of Donbasenergo.

In partnership with FMS, FJJ, Karl-Renner-Institut, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Ukraine, and Kalevi Sorsa Foundation, FEPS, Amicus Europae has launched the project, “Progressive Paths to Rebuild Ukraine.”

Amicus Europae joined the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and Burisma known for its corruption scandal with the Biden family⁸¹ to establish The International Forum on Energy Security for the Future: New Sources, Responsibility, Sustainability (ESF) in 2016. The initiative is intended to promote alternative sources of energy in Europe and worldwide.

Among its founders are Mykola Zlochevskyi and Aleksander Kwasniewski. Vadym Pozharskyi of Burisma is the Head of the Organizing Committee of the Forum.

Brookings Institution

Victor Pinchuk sits on the International Advisory Council of the Brookings Institution. The Brookings Institution is one of the most influential analytical centers in the United States.

In 1948, the institution played a key role in developing the administrative plan for the European Recovery Program (the Marshall Plan) which distributed aid to the war-stricken economies in Europe.

The Brookings Institution conducts influential research on a wide range of public policy topics from domestic issues in the United States to foreign relations.

The organization is chiefly funded by families and foundations associated with the Rockefellers.⁸²

Peterson Institute for International Economics

Victor Pinchuk is a board member of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. The institute is associated with IMF.

In 2006, the Peterson Institute for International Economics, at the suggestion of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, launched its Eastern European and Ukrainian program to raise awareness among international political, social and business elites of the economic challenges facing Ukraine.

Rothschild

At the time, Pinchuk owned Kredyt Dnipro Bank and placed on its board Dominique Strauss- Kahn, former head of the International Monetary Fund, Swedish economist of the Atlantic Council Anders Aslund (mentioned earlier over contacts with Akhmetov), and Jean-Pierre Saltiel, president of Rothschild Conseil International. The bank also appointed Alex Munteanu, Managing Director of Europe Virgin Fund, a regional $57-million private equity fund sponsored by Soros-linked Kyiv-based Dragon Capital.⁸³

The bank may well have been used for money laundering and questionable operations, as many initially interested buyers refused to make the purchase on the pretext of its poor condition.

Giovanni Salvetti⁸⁴ is a Managing Director at Rothschild & Cie in Central and Eastern Europe and currently serves as a member of the Supervisory Board of Kredyt Dnipro Bank. He also managed Petro Poroshenko-owned Roshen as part of the blind trust when the latter was elected president.

Giovanni Salvetti has been representing the interests of one of Europe’s oldest banking houses, Rothschild & Cie, in Ukraine for 12 years. He took part in the sale of Pravex Bank for $750 million, debt restructuring of Kredytprombank and Nadra Bank and carried out over 20 M&A transactions. Salvetti is a financial adviser to the Bondholders Committee of Mria agricultural holding company.

David Petraeus – Arms Lobby

David Petraeus, a partner of the investment fund, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), board member of the Bilderberg Club, former Commander of United States Central Command who oversaw U.S. and NATO military efforts in Afghanistan and former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, has repeatedly addressed the Yalta European Strategy (YES) meetings on military assistance to Ukraine since 2011.⁸⁵ Sir Roger Carr, Senior Adviser at KKR, was also the CEO of BAE Systems until March 2023. The company is the main beneficiary of the war in Ukraine – in 2022, its stock soared +41%, while sales rose 9.7% with MBDA subsidiary revving up missile production funded by the EU.⁸⁶ The KKR foundation has grown 25% over the past year and 196.2% over the past five. These facts, together with close interaction with Hogan Lovells and the Clinton family, show that VPF’s efforts are aimed at promoting public debate in the interests of the defense lobby in Brussels.

The Victor Pinchuk Foundation has been hosting roundtables on Ukraine’s national security since 2017. In 2022, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, the Yalta European Strategy (YES) and the Victor Pinchuk Foundation hosted the Fifth Munich Ukrainian Lunch, titled “Europe’s Security is Decided in Ukraine.” The aim of the Munich Ukrainian Lunch is to promote support for Ukraine as a necessary factor of Europe’s global security and international order. The meeting participants justified the need for expanded arms supply support and David Petraeus outlined the key needs of the Ukrainian military to be met by the U.S. and EU assistance in line with Biden’s principle of “as much as it takes.”⁸⁷

Hillmont Partners

In 2016, James Hart, another Pinchuk adviser, established Hillmont Partners which would serve as the pillar for informal contacts between London-based stakeholders and Kyiv. Hart was an adviser to the former Prime Minister of Ukraine and former First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine – Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine. He advised the Ukrainian government on reform, trade and investment matters. Hart also attended YES and was an active sponsor of Pinchuk’s Ukrainian platform in Davos.

Andriy Lysiuk, Head of Hillmont Partners in Ukraine, worked in senior positions in the SBU Main Department for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime in Kyiv, and was a member of the Servant of the People party, but eventually withdrew from a mandate. Among the clients of Hillmont Partners was Kvartal 95 Studio founded by Volodymyr Zelenskyy.88 Denys Monastyrskyi who fought the influence of his predecessor, Arsen Avakov, was a former adviser to Hillmont Partners.

James Hart was appointed adviser to Quintel Intelligence (QI) when the company received a new shareholder, an anonymous BVI foundation, Capital Compliance.⁸⁹ QI was founded by a former British SAS officer, John Holmes, specializing in litigation support.⁹⁰ Nicholas Connon, a former British military intelligence officer, is a Director and CEO of Quintel Intelligence. In addition to Hart, among Qi’s advisers is a retired UK Court of Appeal judge, Anthony Hooper, and James Ramsden, KC, a cybersecurity expert who was involved in disputes with Russian and Ukrainian oil and gas companies as Founder of Astraea Group and the lead Queen’s Counsel for Chambers UK and Chambers Global in commercial disputes and civil fraud.⁹¹

Not so long ago, QI had Matrix Chambers among its members⁹², a company overseeing British interests on the Ethics Council, a body that approved nominations of judges to the Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine.

George Soros (Open Society Foundation)

Pinchuk has been cooperating with Soros’s organizations since 2006.

Just one year prior to the presidential campaign, which Zelenskyy won, and the parliamentary elections, Pinchuk and the Soros-linked Dragon Capital launched the New Leaders public media project⁹⁴. Dragon Capital also founded and brought into the parliament the Vakarchuk- led Holos (“Voice”) party⁹⁵ composed of graduates from Soros organizations. Their presence in the parliamentary mono-majority of Zelenskyy’s party severely undermined the monopoly of influence on Zelenskyy, which was enjoyed by the Privat Group who placed him into power.⁹⁶

The Soros and Victor Pinchuk foundations are partners in financing numerous NGOs and projects in Ukraine and abroad. Soros also attended Yalta European Strategy (YES) meetings held by Pinchuk. YES conferences and meetings were attended by current and former presidents, prime ministers, power brokers, bankers, corporate executives, and celebrities.

Chrystia Freeland, a trustee of the Aspen Institute in Kyiv, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Canada, is a key OSF figure. Chrystia Freeland joined the Victor Pinchuk Foundation and his partner George Soros to promote Ukraine’s own strategic interests. In 1992, she established the Ukrainian Legal Foundation (ULF) at the behest of Ukrainian and Western lawyers to facilitate the state building process in Ukraine which immediately received Soros funding. She is linked to IMF schemes designed to indirectly/covertly obtain billions of dollars from non-EU states.⁹⁷

One of the major projects funded by Soros and Pinchuk is the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center, a venue for cooperation of Ukrainian public relations corporation and journalists, which is headquartered at the Ukraine Hotel in Kyiv. Allegedly, it was established to counter the propaganda attack of Putin’s Russian media cartel. Most “independent news” we get from Ukraine is produced and marked by the propaganda brand approved by Pinchuk and Soros. This includes the approval or cover-up of the fact that the “new” government in Kyiv is just another rotation of the former staff with established corrupt patterns of interaction.⁹⁸

Interestingly, Ukrainska Pravda, a news outlet owned by Tomas Fiala and controlled by George Soros,⁹⁹ published the results of a poll in which President Zelenskyy was named as the main corrupt official.¹⁰⁰ This fact heralds the intentions of the Democratic Party to nominate another candidate in the coming elections.

Alex Soros, a son of George Soros, reached a deal with Zelenskyy’s team to develop the Ukrainian economy and confiscate frozen Russian assets.¹⁰¹ On the day of his visit to Ukraine, the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs backed the bill to transfer Russian assets to Kyiv.

Soros-linked organizations created the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU). This is a group which worked to help Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and silenced the Biden- Burisma scandal after prosecutor Kostyantyn Kulyk, who opened the case, was dismissed. Later, Head of NABU Artem Sytnyk was involved in several corruption cases that were closed¹⁰², while his First Deputy Hizo Uhlava, acting through his assistant Polina Chyzh, provided information to the U.S. Embassy upon request.¹⁰³

Clintons

The Pinchuk Foundation was a large donor to Clinton-run non-profit organizations. Pinchuk is close to Doug E. Schoen, a representative of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a longtime Clinton associate and political consultant whom, according to the New York Times, Victor Pinchuk hired as an adviser in 2000 for a monthly fee of $40,000. Pinchuk leads the Clintons’ trusted circle in the region as a sponsor of Bill and Hillary Clinton. Not only did he generously support the Clinton Global Initiative, but he also donated more than $13 million to the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation.

Pinchuk sits on the CFR Global Board of Advisors (GBA) which can be considered a non­partisan consensus group of American banking elites who are at the managerial core of the Federal Reserve System.

BILL CLINTON WITH VICTOR AND OLENA PINCHUK IN 2007 (SOURCE: VICTOR PINCHUK FOUNDATION)

The Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA)

Founded in the U.S. in 2005, CEPA seeks to strengthen the transatlantic alliance. Among CEPA’s donors are corporations, foundations, organizations and governments, including the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, U.S. Department of State, Pentagon, Government of Estonia, Poses Family Foundation, Hirsch Family Foundation, Microsoft Corporation, National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and several defense contractors from NATO member countries, including FireEye, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Bell Helicopters, and BAE Systems.¹⁰⁴

Hogan Lovells

Hogan Lovells supports the Soros projects. For example, the S.T.O.P. website1⁰⁵ which advocates privacy is funded by the Soros-owned Open Society Foundation and actively cooperates with Hogan Lovells, who is also listed among sponsors of the said NGO.¹⁰⁶

According to the FARA filings, former U.S. senator Norm Coleman, Senior Counsel with the law firm Hogan Lovells, is a lobbyist for the Pinchuk Foundation. Coleman is relatively indifferent to intra-clan relations of Ukrainian oligarchs and also known for working on a full-time basis for Akhmetov’s Metinvest. In addition to Coleman, Metinvest also engaged lobbyists, such as Charles Garrison, Nicholas Laneville, steel market expert Craig A Lewis¹⁰⁷, Senior Counsel at CSIS Kelly Ann Shaw¹⁰⁸ and Jared R Wessel, Assistant General Counsel at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Coleman’s work for Pinchuk included a successful attempt to force President Joe Biden to abolish steel duties in Ukraine after the war began. The project has already been given the green light by his former colleague, U.S. Senator of Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar and U.S.

Senator Chris Coons. The initiative was further backed by Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)¹⁰⁹

Coleman, who has extensive experience as a foreign interest lobbyist via his longstanding role as an agent for Saudi Arabia, is already busy at work for Ukraine. Previously, Coleman also participated in raising and spending over $260 million in funds supporting Republican congressional candidates in the 2022 midterm elections.¹¹⁰

Coleman also cooperates with Urenco, a supplier of uranium for nuclear power plants. Urenco has uranium enrichment plants in Germany, Netherlands, UK, and U.S.

Ukrainian nuclear company Energoatom and Urenco Group reached an agreement on long­term enriched uranium supplies for Ukrainian nuclear power plants starting in 2026 to replace Russian supplies.¹¹¹ The company paid Hogan Lovells about $600,000 for services in 2023.

Hogan Lovells pursues the interests of its major clients and in cooperation with Pinchuk worked pro bono with members of Congress to help host an exhibition of the Pinchuk Foundation dedicated to the Russian aggression. This work included the organization of contact with Sen. (D-Minn.) Amy Klobuchar and an exchange of e-mails with chiefs of staff of GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham and Thom Tillis. Coleman asked for the event to be hosted at the Capitol “to give members of Congress a better understanding of the horrific loss of life and the tragic agony that the people of Ukraine have experienced over the course of the last year as a direct result of Russian war crimes” and to “do as much as possible to ensure continued, strong, bipartisan support for the truly heroic efforts that this administration and Congress have made to provide essential military and economic assistance to Ukraine.” This October, the Victor Pinchuk Foundation opened the Russian War Crimes exhibition at The Dodd Center for Human Rights at the University of Connecticut (USA).¹¹² Pinchuk addressed the Summit at The Dodd Center and spoke about strengthening air defense with F16 fighter jets (manufactured by Lockheed Martin).

With pro bono work for the Pinchuk Foundation, this benefited the company’s major clients interested in the conflict in Ukraine. Looking Glass Cyber Solutions¹¹³ and HawkEye 360¹¹⁴ are also Norm Coleman’s clients with extensive contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense.

Looking Glass, which paid Hogan Lovells $200,000 in 2022, holds a five-year contract with the Department of Defense “to provide tailored cyber threat intelligence data and enhance the mission effectiveness of US military cyber threat analysts and operators.” The company website describes the role of such threats in Russia’s military strategy.

HawkEye 360, which also paid $200,000 to Hogan Lovells in 2022, similarly is a defense department contractor specializing in detection and geolocation of radio signals. Their detection network conducted analysis in Ukraine and their website boasts the identification of GPS interference in Ukraine, appearing to be part of Moscow’s “integration of electronic warfare tactics into Russian military operation, meant to further degrade Ukraine’s ability for self-defense.”¹¹⁵

Coleman and Hogan Lovells working on the Saudi account engage in what he calls “specific advocacy assignments with regard to US Government officials, Members of Congress and their staffs, representatives of media organizations and/or other individuals involved in legislative, regulatory, public policy or public affairs matters, and/or in other activities of interest to the foreign principal.”¹¹⁶. The aforementioned Privat case describes the work of Hogan Lovells in terms of conflict of interest in relation to Ukrainian clients and confirms the company’s role as a channel for attracting attention and informing third parties among the U.S. policy makers.

In December 2016, interestingly, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko gave the nod to seize PrivatBank from Ihor Kolomoyskyi under the pretext of nationalization and with the help of Hogan Lovells¹¹⁷. The company’s audit revealed coordinated, large-scale fraud at PrivatBank over a ten year period and found a “shady bank” formed from a network of offshore companies. The Kroll audit took place as part of Ukraine’s commitments to the IMF.¹¹⁸

Tracking Kolomoyskyi’s assets, Hogan Lovells hired the British private intelligence agency Diligence, founded by former MI5 officer Nick Day and his friends from the CIA¹¹⁹.

VIKTOR PINCHUK’S CONNECTIONS

The Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute (USA) funded by the Pinchuk Foundation has been developing ideas and values of communities and civil society organizations since 2006. Partners have been holding seminars for the Aspen-Ukraine Alumni Association in Ukraine since 2008.

It is important to emphasize that the Aspen Institute is initially associated with the U.S. military and strategic vector. In terms of clans, Aspen is linked to the Pratt family who, in turn, have ties to Standard Oil and the Rockefellers. The Institute was established with the support of a Cold War strategist Paul Henry Nitze (his brother-in-law Walter Paepcke founded the Aspen Institute and Aspen Skiing Company). Mr. Nitze is a former Wall Street banker with Dillon, Read and Co. He was married to Phyllis Pratt¹²⁰. He is said to be part of the influence group of German arms companies in the U.S. defense industry in Colorado. Conclusions made by his intelligence think tank, Team B, regarding weapons capabilities and aggressive nuclear war strategies were exaggerated.¹²¹ Paul Nitze acted on behalf of the Baruchs, an influential American-German family at the core of the U.S. economy reorientation, to serve the defense industry beginning in the 1930s and the U.S. arms development.

Today, Aspen is publicly associated with the Clintons and defending Hunter Biden’s reputation in the Burisma corruption scandal. In the 2020 report of the Center for International Policy, the Aspen Institute ranked fifth on the list of U.S. think tanks receiving foreign funding. Among its major donors is Craig Newmark, Craigslist Founder and a private sponsor of Democratic candidates, as well as the parents of Amazon Founder, Jeff Bezos, Jacklyn and Miguel Bezos.¹²²

In 2021, the Aspen Institute established the Commission on Information Disorder to counter “malicious” actors “sowing distrust and discord in the civil society” by spreading false information.¹²³ The Commission was slammed for its left-wing political bias, censoring news critical of the Democratic Party and left-wing interests. Currently, AI technologies are developed by the Aspen Institute at the so-called censorship and industrial complex working in tandem with various tech giants and government agencies to attack free speech online, especially during election periods.

In Ukraine, the Aspen Institute has partnered with leaders promoting the social capitalism model, Luminate (Omidyar Network) and Impact Hub, the Klitschko Foundation and OSCE.¹²⁴

Conclusions

The real power in Ukraine has effectively been taken over by transnational banking groups. And with the U.S. represented by BlackRock Foundation dominating the landscape, the public policies of which are maintained by the Clinton and Biden families. The oligarch Victor Pinchuk is a local managing intermediary of this group of influence in Ukraine. For many years, he has been developing a narrow circle of high-level contacts with anti­corruption organizations, intelligence agencies, strategic global centers, and the non-profit shadow policy sector. These organizations make up the core for lobbying the U.S. defense industry and shaping strategic policies on the Western support for Ukraine.

Victor Pinchuk’s role is to serve the interests of large center-left political institutions associated with BlackRock. Zelenskyy’s team came up with an administrative “deoligarchization” tool at the behest of the White House to deter figures who pose a threat to the U.S. control of Ukrainian assets. This causes the hijacking of the political landscape, but will not affect Pinchuk who has connections and status to provide immunity. The anti­corruption political agenda is a stable strategic narrative advocated by the globalist elite, used as a way to get rid of opponents. If we take a broadside approach to such a phenomenon, it is more than just fighting criminal schemes and nationalizing assets. The anti-corruption system is well monetized.

This benefit is further demonstrated by the actions of Kangaroo Group, the largest network lobbying firm. In addition to members of the European Parliament, this organization brings together and maintains informal contacts with more than 50 corporate participants from different sectors that make up BlackRock’s portfolio, including Goldman Sachs, BP, Volkswagen and such defense contractors, as EADS, Thales, Saab, Boeing¹²⁵. The organizations provide the informal dialog with the Ukrainian establishment, that is necessary to promote its own interests in the region.¹²⁶

The President of Kangaroo Group is German politician Michael Gahler, a member of the European Parliament since 1999, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, and the European People’s Party. He has considerable influence on the political landscape.

In July, Michael Gahler addressed parliamentary hearings and was backed on his report, Establishing the Ukraine Facility¹²⁷, according to which the Facility should provide €50 billion in EU financial aid to Ukraine based on current prices for the period from 2024 to 2027. The funds are intended to facilitate Ukraine’s future membership in the European Union. The paper places great emphasis on monitoring and anti-corruption functions which require Europe to provide greater assistance and more resources, without which reconstruction and direct funding of Ukrainian institutions would be vulnerable to embezzlement.

Based on the paper, these funds will benefit defense contractors, legal lobbyists, private intelligence organizations, developers of special software for investigations, cybersecurity and data collection, non-profit organizations, and civic groups associated with BlackRock and its satellites, represented by Soros-linked institutions and experts. Victor Pinchuk offers a discussion platform, funding for relevant NGOs and the agenda for Ukraine’s military funding. At the core of the lobbying is Hogan Lovells, the Aspen Institute, the Atlantic Council and David Petraeus whose ties are closely bound with the arms lobby and permanent members of the Bilderberg Club.

On 8 May, Zelenskyy and Fink signed a development agreement to establish the so-called Ukraine Development Fund (UDF) with BlackRock Financial Market Advisory (BlackRock FMA) funded by JP Morgan Bank. Under the program for privatization of the most profitable and liquid private, public and municipal assets, Black Rock planned to invest about $100 billion in UDF, which is more than two-thirds of Ukraine’s annual GDP.

BlackRock and The Vanguard Group are owned by one another on a circular ownership basis. These foundations bring together the world’s richest families – Rockefeller, Rothschild, du Pont, Mellon¹²⁸, Wallenberg. Among BlackRock top managers are several retired CIA officers.¹²⁹

According to the terms of the deal, BlackRock will manage Ukrainian assets, including the funds provided as part of “foreign aid.” Thus, Ukrainian strategic enterprises, including “nationalized” ones, will most likely end up under transnational control. This scheme will also be used to manage Ukraine’s foreign debt which, according to the Ministry of Finance, is approaching $150 billion, or 100% of the national GDP. Officially, the agreement is intended to attract investments in energy, infrastructure and agriculture, but due to the weak subsidized economy destroyed by the war, it leads to the seizure of Ukraine’s major assets on account of debt repayment – from ferti le black soi l to power grids.

BlackRock’s satellites have already gained control over Naftogaz, having Europe’s second largest gas reserves through the mediation of Lazard Investment (the Lazards are a family of bankers known for their competition with the Rothschilds in France) and Lazard Freres & Co., a SAS representative (owned by the Wallenberg family), who restructured Eurobonds. The foundation has launched large-scale seizures and buyups of Ukraine’s ample agricultural lands at discounted prices in connection with companies’ debts to the IMF. This is a major creditor of companies going bankrupt.

Joe Biden appointed Penny Pritzker (a representative of Europe’s top-10 richest families from the Chicago group¹³⁰) as the United States Special Representative for Ukraine’s Economic Recovery at UDF, known for a failed initiative to create a single free trade area in the Pacific Ocean. Ms. Pritzker will build a top-down colonial operation by reforming the Ukrainian government “in the sphere of transparency and accountability of the country’s recovery, including total control of law enforcement, judicial system in the fight against corruption, and management of state-owned enterprises.”

It should be emphasized that the Chicago-based Pritzker billionaire family are historically Jewish immigrants from Kyiv. The Pritzkers generously funded Obama and Biden. Penny Pritzker’s brother supported the Clintons¹³¹ who are allied with Pinchuk.

THE PRIVAT GROUP: KOLOMOYSKYI-BOHOLUBOV

Ihor Valeriyovych Kolomoyskyi

Nationality: Israel, Cyprus. In 2022, he was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship.

IHOR VALERIYOVYCH KOLOMOYSKYI

In 2022, Kolomoyskyi’s fortune ranked him eleventh on the Forbes list. After the nationalization of oil assets last year, Ihor Kolomoyskyi lost $1 billion. He is now neither a billionaire nor on the list, as he was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship. From 2014 to 2015, he was Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. He is also a defendant in several criminal cases in the United States and Ukraine.

Hennadiy Borysovych Boholiubov

Nationality: UK, Israel, Cyprus, Ukraine (he renounced his citizenship in 2017 but it was reinstated in 2021).

HENNADIY BORYSOVYCH BOHOLIUBOV

Starting 1999, Boholiubov has been President of the Dnipropetrovsk Jewish Community and traditionally accompanied Israeli top-level officials visiting Ukraine. He also regularly donated large amounts to synagogues in Israel.

In 2022, Boholiubov’s fortune ranked ninth on the Forbes top-20 list of the richest Ukrainians. Boholiubov is Chairman and Founder of the Jewish charity, Simha Foundation. He provides assistance to Jews all over the world and has donated more than $80 million to Chabad. On behalf of his foundation, Boholiubov funded the excavation near the Temple Mount conducted by the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society¹³².

Privat is an informal umbrella name for Ukraine’s largest financial and industrial group. Its principal owners are two oligarchs: Hennadiy Boholiubov, who keeps a low profile, and Ihor Kolomoyskyi, who is politically and media active. Boholiubov deals with the banking side of the business, while Kolomoyskyi – the steel companies. The Privat Group, directly or indirectly, includes over 100 enterprises in Ukraine and worldwide.

Ihor Kolomoyskyi has made numerous scandalous connections and faced multiple charges. He is reportedly involved in contract killings and corporate intimidation in Ukraine. He also has a reputation as a dangerous man willing to resort to violence and is considered one of the first oligarchs to act as a warlord. In the past, Kolomoyskyi had been accused of contract killings and embezzlement.

Kolomoyskyi and his business partner Boholiubov are known regionally as “The Raiders,” and maintain a “quasi-military force,” or “army of thugs,” to “effect violent seizures of their opponents’ assets.” Kolomoyskyi and his partner Boholiubov used these forces, armed with various weapons, as a component of “strong-arm tactics” to advance their business interests and counter Russian influence in 2014.

Information about the FBI investigation into Kolomoyskyi is linked to possible financial crimes, including money laundering. This investigation was launched less than two weeks before the presidential elections in Ukraine. Kolomoyskyi was linked to a leading candidate in the election.

Just weeks before Zelenskyy’s accession to presidency, the FBI launched an investigation into Ihor Kolomoyskyi, suspecting him of money laundering. In this case, he is represented by the influential lobbying firm, Ashcroft Law Firm¹³³, closely affiliated with the Republican Party and the Bush Jr. administration. Mike Sullivan, an attorney handling the case for Kolomoyskyi, is the former U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts and chiefly works for the GOPers.

Meanwhile, the oligarch stayed in Tel Aviv, as the influence of Chabad-linked Prime Minister, Netanyahu, gave Kolomoyskyi every reason to believe he would not be extradited to the U.S.

On behalf of Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, two Florida businessmen, Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas¹³⁴, flew to Israel to meet Ihor Kolomoyskyi to negotiate aid for Giuliani’s efforts to reopen the Burisma Holdings case. Their visit to Kolomoyskyi ended up in Giuliani meeting the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine and Chabad representative, Moshe Reuven Azman, in Paris¹³⁵.

Later, Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas were arrested on charges of campaign finance violations, specifically donating $325,000 to a political action committee supporting Trump’s re­election. It is also important to emphasize that Fruman and Parnas have ties to the Friends of Anatevka and could play a role in donating funds for the benefit of the said organization. As part of the same scandal, it transpired that Fruman and Parnas were linked to efforts to replace the United States Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch¹³⁶.

From 2017 to 2019, Ihor Kolomoyskyi financed Debbie Jessika Mucarsel-Powell’s campaign for the House of Representatives in Florida. In 2018 and 2020, he also financed the election campaign in the 26th Congressional District in Miami and donated about $10,000 through its employees and agents. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is a member of the Democratic Party and volunteered for the presidential campaigns of John Kerry and Barack Obama.

Uriel Laber, who contributed $2,500 to Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s campaign, and Mordechai Korf are American businessmen with stakes in some of the Privat companies who played an important role in connections with Ihor Kolomoyskyi and his financial operations. Laber is also named in PrivatBank’s civil suit and is implicated in not only Kolomoyskyi’s fraud and money laundering scheme, but in racketeering and civil conspiracy as well. Mordechai Korf and Uriel Laber are sponsors of various Jewish organizations and yeshivas. They are passionate philanthropists and support the Chabad movement. This religious group connection and charitable activities offer them a handful of dependable money laundering schemes using charities.

Chabad uses Privat’s financial resources to gain influence with both U.S. parties.

From 2017 to 2023, Soros-affiliated Hogan Lovells, one of the largest U.S. lobbying firms, represented Ukraine-based PrivatBank on behalf of Petro Poroshenko in his actions against the former owners, Ihor Kolomoyskyi and Hennadiy Boholi ubov. They also advocated Victor Pinchuk’s philanthropy on behalf of the arms lobby connected with Soros’s interests in Ukraine.¹³⁷

A long struggle for control over Ferrexpo and Poltava Mining between the Privat Group and another Ukrainian oligarch, Kostyantyn Zhevaho, had several stages, as a series of court hearings ended in favor of either one side or the other. Eventually, Zhevaho won the case in the court of last resort, upon which the Chairman of the Supreme Court, Kniaziev, was arrested on charges of bribery. Due to the seizure of all Zhevaho’s assets back in 2020, however, the ultimate beneficiary of the trial was the famous BlackRock Foundation, the second largest Ferrexpo shareholder, and Soros-linked Dragon Capital managing Ferrexpo.

The struggle for control of assets in Ukraine between the Chabad-associated Privat Group and Soros-linked organizations is the embodiment of a systemic confrontation reflected in other countries as part of the global trend:

• in Hungary, the Orban Government is at war with Soros-linked organizations all while building relationships with the local Chabad community;¹³⁸
• Trump and Netanyahu, who are also affiliated with the Lubavitch Hasidic Jews, are outspoken opponents of Soros;
• Soros’s support of HAMAS.¹³⁹

The aforementioned situations show signs of a systemic confrontation between two global groups of influence, pursuing their political and economic goals amid the global crisis. The conflict between the Privat Group (Chabad) and groups who can loosely be labeled Soros- linked groups in Ukraine is a specific manifestation of this trend and plays into the logic of confrontation between global projects.

Let’s take a closer look at the richest history of conflicts among Ukrainian oligarchs revolving around Kolomoyskyi and his assets in order to understand the strength of opponents and alliances.

PrivatBank. In 1992, Boholiubov and Ihor Kolomoyskyi established one of the largest banks in Ukraine. From 2003 to 2016, the bank accounted for about 25% of the country’s banking sector and held deposits worth over $6 billion which amount to around 33% of the total deposits in Ukraine. As a result of a massive fraud and theft, PrivatBank was nationalized in December 2016.

2016: Large-scale investigations launched by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) uncovered a scheme created by the bank owners to steal over $5 billion by issuing fraudulent loans. The National Bank of Ukraine declared PrivatBank insolvent. The Ukrainian Government backed the proposal to nationalize PrivatBank.

Weeks before nationalization, Boholiubov signed an agreement to sell Consolidated Minerals to China Tian Yuan Manganese Limited, a subsidiary of Ningxia Tianyuan Manganese Industry Co., Ltd. The nationalization of PrivatBank in 2017 was greeted by IMF, EBRD, UK and U.S. governments.

In April 2019, the Kyiv District Administrative Court satisfied Ihor Kolomoyskyi’s lawsuit on the grounds that the nationalization had been carried out in breach of the law. Interestingly, the ruling came days before the second round of presidential elections, when it was crystal clear that Zelenskyy had won. The National Bank of Ukraine announced plans to appeal the court ruling, considering it a threat to the national financial stability.

Erlan tried to prove collusion between PrivatBank and NBU. However, PrivatBank won the case in the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court. PJSC Erlan is linked to former PrivatBank owners. The company tried to oblige the bank to repay debts to NBU. The Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court reaffirmed Kolomoyskyi’s defense points.

In 2019, former PrivatBank incorporators were sued in one of the U.S. courts over the largest ever alleged money laundering scheme of $470 billion, carried out between 2006 and 2016.¹⁴⁰

2020: Legal action filed with the Kyiv Commercial Court demanding the return of a 33.25% stake held by Hennadiy Boholiubov prior to the nationalization of PrivatBank.

2021: Satisfaction of PrivatBank’s petition and rejection of the legal action filed by the former shareholder of the bank, Hennadiy Boholiubov, for the return of a 33.25% stake in the financial institution. In 2021, Forbes estimated his fortune at $1.7 billion.

Ferroalloys. The Privat Group took an active part in the Ukrainian steel industry operating through mining, beneficiation and ferroalloy plants. In 2007, the group gained control over a 99.25% stake in Sukha Balka Mining and Beneficiation Plant. After the acquisition of the world’s largest manganese ore producers, Consolidated Minerals (Consmin), with major assets in Australia and Ghana in 2008, the group controls approximately 30% of the global ferroalloy market. Privat-Intertrading dominates the Ukrainian manganese ore market.

In 2009, the duo gained indirect control over a 3% stake in Ferrexpo (Switzerland) and Poltava Mining acting through Fayver Properties (Belize). Later, Boholiubov and Kolomoyskyi bought a 10% stake and attempted to get seats on Ferrexpo’s supervisory board. They, however, walked into significant opposition from the company owner Kostyantyn Zhevaho. With these attempts thwarted, Boholiubov and Kolomoyskyi had to sell their Ferrexpo stock. Thus, their new role in the situation was to attempt to gain influence over Ferrexpo’s management and their involvement in company stock transactions.

In 2021, Trimcroft Services, Gilson Investments, Calefort Developments, and Emsworth Assets, companies with links to Ihor Kolomoyskyi and Hennadiy Boholiubov, won a lawsuit against Zhevaho in the Kyiv Commercial Court which ruled that a 40.19% stake in the mining company must be transferred to plaintiffs.

In early 2023, the Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv City seized the property of PJSC Ordzhonikidze Mining and Beneficiation Plant, PJSC Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant, PJSC Marhanets Mining and Beneficiation Plant in a case of the misappropriation of public funds by PrivatBank officials.

In September 2022, the Northern Commercial Court of Appeal annulled agreements for the purchase and sale of a 40.19% stake in Ferrexpo-owned Poltava Mining made 20 years before. In March 2023, the ruling of the commercial court of appeal was reversed. The aforementioned equity stake remained in Ferrexpo’s ownership. The final judgment of the Supreme Court finally foiled all attempts by Privat-linked offshore companies to seize the stake in Poltava Mining from Ferrexpo. The case was on everyone’s mind in business and mass media and was considered an attempt to raid a major industrial asset.

In May 2023, Chairman of the Supreme Court, Vsevolod Kniaziev, was arrested for a $3 million bribe from the oligarch, Kostyantyn Zhevaho, in the case of privatization of Poltava Mining.

A 50.3% stake in Ferrexpo plc. is owned by Luxembourg-based Fevamotinico Sarl incorporated by the Ukrainian oligarch Kostyantyn Zhevaho; the famous globalist foundation BlackRock, Inc. holds 6.0% of ordinary shares; Schroder Investment Management Limited has an interest of about 5.8% in the company. BlackRock is the company’s Largest shareholder second only to Zhevaho, who is currently under arrest in France over the case of JSC Finance and Credit Bank, where Zhevaho and top managers of the bank are accused of stealing $113 million. Zhevaho is under house arrest in France and the property of Zhevaho-affiliated companies was also seized. In October 2020, all seized assets were handed over to the Ukrainian asset recovery agency. Currently, Ferrexpo plc. is managed by Soros-linked Dragon Capital.¹⁴¹

Among the Cyprus-based offshore companies which started this case litigation 20 years ago are:

Trimcroft Services Limited, Emsworth Assets Limited, Gilson Investments Limited, Calefort Developments Limited.

Sofia Isidorou Siachinian is Director of the four aforementioned Cyprus-based companies and reportedly has ties to the Privat Group. In this case, we see that the Privat Group is feuding with George Soros affiliated companies in the steel industry and the facts around this conflict indicate that both opposing factions have and use influence on the Ukrainian government to advance their cause.

At Hogan Lovells, PrivatBank’s Lawsuits against Hennadiy Boholiubov and Ihor Kolomoyskyi were handled by Chris Hardman, Richard I. Lewis, Jenna Ralfe and Michael Davison, the latter of whom is Deputy Director of Hogan Lovells.

The same attorneys represent Victor Pinchuk,¹⁴² giving an extra context to the conflict between different financial and political interests, as Victor Pinchuk is a Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist, whose activities are linked to international foundations, including foundations linked to George Soros and hostile to Kolomoyskyi.

Like Kolomoyskyi, Pinchuk is regarded as a supporter of the Chabad religious movement. But unlike the Privat top figures, in business and politics, Pinchuk cooperates with another global sponsor competing with Chabad for influence.¹⁴³

1+1. In 2009-2010, CME held several transactions to transfer the ownership of 1+1 TV channel to its minority shareholder, Ihor Kolomoyskyi. The overall value of these transactions exceeded $400 million. The sale was eventually closed in April 2010.

Today, 1+1 Studio is controlled by more than ten offshore companies incorporated in Cyprus, Belize, and BVI. As of 31 December 2017, Ihor Kolomoyskyi has been the ultimate beneficial owner, while Ihor Surkis the owner of a substantial stake.

The TV channel waged an information campaign against Poroshenko. This conflict was part of Kolomoyskyi’s struggle for power and property after 2014. The release of “Servant of the People” TV series heralded the launch of an information campaign to nominate Zelenskyy and fanned the flames of hostility between Kolomoyskyi and Poroshenko’s chief of staff, Borys Lozhkin.

In October 2023, Kolomoyskyi assigned his corporate rights for 1+1 Media to incumbent General Director of the company, Yaroslav Pakholchuk, for a period of five years.

Ukrnafta is the largest oil and gas producer in Ukraine, producing approximately 62% of the country’s oil and 6% of the country’s natural gas in 2019. Ukrnafta-owned gas processing plants are the leading liquefied gas producers in Ukraine.

Until 2015, the majority stake in the state-owned company Ukrnafta was held by the government, but the actual management was carried out by Ihor Kolomoyskyi’s companies. Zelenskyy was unhappy with the situation, so in March 2015, regulation changes brought down the quorum for shareholders’ meetings from 60% to 50% + 1 share which allowed the government to gain control over the company.

This situation triggered litigation and a conflict over control of Ukrnafta. This is when the British seizure mechanism powered on. The London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) ruled that disputable provisions of the shareholders’ agreement regarding the management of Ukrnafta were unenforceable. The government tried to shuffle Ukrnafta management which only led to a violent confrontation over control of the company. The situation escalated into a public confrontation with the president. Later, the conflict was resolved at a meeting between Kolomoyskyi and Poroshenko in the presence, and with the active participation, of the U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt. As a result, Kolomoyskyi was dismissed from his post as Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

In 2016, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office launched a probe into the appropriation of the property and funds of PJSC Ukrnafta for an overall amount of UAH 13.8 billion. In August 2021, charges were aligned, while the investigation came to an end in August 2023. As a result, law enforcers charged eight individuals, including the company’s former top management controlled by Kolomoyskyi. The law enforcement investigation revealed the violation of a government decree on full payment for oil supplies and that the funds spent were transferred abroad to the accounts of several offshore companies.

In November 2022, stakes in the largest companies of the Privat Group, including Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta, were transferred to the owners of state-owned companies which, for the time being, meant the loss of a significant part of the group’s assets due to martial law. Initially, Hennadiy Boholiubov and Ihor Kolomoyskyi were the owners of 60% of shares in these companies (with the rest of shares held by Naftogaz). Ukrtatnafta’s major asset was Kremenchuk Refinery which was damaged in Russian missile attacks in May. In 2015, the law enforcement investigation found that Ukrnafta shipped more than UAH 10.7 billion worth of raw materials to companies affiliated with Ihor Kolomoyskyi’s Privat Group before full payment was made. Currently, the investigation is complete; most of the funds have gone into offshore jurisdictions; NABU had the court annul 60 such agreements for almost UAH 3 billion.

DniproAzot. 2012: Acquisition of shares in DniproAzot, Ukraine’s sole liquid chlorine producer. Leveraging water treatment systems, Privat put pressure on water service companies and the government to gain preferences or other favorable terms for the plant. In early 2023, the Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv City arrested PJSC DniproAzot as part of the case of appropriation of public funds by PrivatBank officials.

Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) was Ukraine’s largest airline prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Cyprus-based Ontobet Promotions Limited amassed 25.83% of UIA shares. In turn, Capital Investment Project owned by Ihor Kolomoyskyi increased its stake from 51.64% to 74.16%.

In 2014, Ihor Kolomoyskyi and Aron Mayberg fought for control of the aviation industry with the aviation service provider Swissport in Switzerland after they acquired a partner enterprise in 2011. This conflict ended with a change in the shareholding structure and although, on paper, Swissport obtained a 70% stake, the company was still controlled by the oligarchs. Litigation is ongoing even though such a long time has passed. Kolomoyskyi even said that he would suspend all his business affairs until he leaves political office. This situation tarnished Ukraine’s investment reputation.¹⁴⁴ Pavlo Ovcharenko, Ukrtatnafta CEO, is a shareholder of the company just as Mayberg and Kolomoyskyi.

In April 2023, Ihor Kolomoyskyi and Aron Mayberg retired from the list of founders of Ukraine International Airlines (UIA). As a result, Aron Mayberg was recalled from the UIA supervisory board by its shareholder, Capital Investment Project. Hanna Borysonnyk who earlier worked for Kolomoyskyi-linked companies was appointed the new UIA President. Aron Mayberg’s more than ten-year reign at UIA, beginning when the company was first privatized in 2011, came to an end. The Kyiv court declared UIA bankrupt upon request of the state-owned Ukreximbank.

Warren Steel Holdings is a U.S. based steel plant of Ihor Kolomoyskyi. The U.S. government accused him of creating a sophisticated scheme to launder money by acquiring real property and industrial assets in the Midwest. Warren Steel was one of these assets. According to the federal government, Kolomoyskyi and his companies invested borrowed funds into U.S. assets, including about $9 million, which was invested in Warren Steel. Later, Warren Steel used its plant as security to borrow mortgage loans of $110.7 million, a part of which was linked to Kolomoyskyi. However, after the plant temporarily reopened, it was shut down permanently in 2016 and the U.S. government confiscated several Kolomoyskyi-owned properties. Warren Steel left nearly $750,000 in property tax debt.¹⁴⁵

Asquith Family

This is the point where the Firtash-Asquith alliance collides with British interests in Kolomoyskyi’s assets. JKX Oil & Gas plc. is UK-based, listed on the London Stock Exchange while operating assets in Russia, Ukraine and six other countries. In 2011, VTB Capital plc., a VTB Bank company, increased its interest in JKX Oil & Gas to 6.4%, while Ihor Kolomoyskyi of the Privat Group became its largest shareholder with a 27.06% stake. In 2016, Ronald Asquith left the company under pressure from Kolomoyskyi and his partners.

JKX Oil & Gas is focused on projects in Ukraine and Russia producing most oil and gas outside state-owned companies. They have licenses for oil fields in Poltava Oblast and acquisition of Yuzhgazenergie with a license for the gas field in Koshekhablsky District in Southern Russia. Currently, the company’s board consists of Ukrainian managers from Ukrnafta.

Chabad-Lubavitch – Lauder Family

In May 2019, PrivatBank filed a lawsuit against Ihor Kolomoyskyi, Hennadiy Boholiubov and three American agents for Kolomoyskyi, Mordechai Korf, Chaim Schochet and Uriel Laber. The lawsuit was also filed against twenty companies owned by Kolomoyskyi and Boholiubov, located in the United States. According to PrivatBank’s lawsuit, Uriel Laber directly or indirectly owned Georgian American Alloys, Inc. and its subsidiaries, such as CC Metals and Alloys, LLC, Felman Production, LLC, and Felman Trading, Inc. All these companies were also linked to Ihor Kolomoyskyi. Uriel Laber also has ties to Optima Acquisitions, Inc., Optima Specialty Steel, Inc. and Niagara LaSalle Corp. Robert Powell, also linked to Kolomoyskyi, acted as the General Counsel or Chief General Counsel for all of these businesses.

Mordechai Korf and Uriel Laber acted as intermediaries for Ihor Kolomoyskyi by transferring around $4 billion of his tainted income to buy properties and companies in the United States. This information is based on three civil lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice.¹⁴⁶

Mordechai Korf and Uriel Laber are accused of laundering billions for the Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi, as they generously shelled out more than $11 million to nearly 70 yeshivas and religious charities in New York. Some of these organizations include: Colel Chabad (Chabad Lubavitch) receiving $466,647 and The Federation of Jewish Communities of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) receiving nearly $1 million.

These organizations include many charitable institutions, such as yeshivas and religious educational media in Brooklyn and across the state.¹⁴⁷

Until 2015, Korf and Laber held 7% of shares in PrivatBank’s foreign branch¹⁴⁸ and co-owned PrivatBank’s subsidiary in Latvia.

Uriel Laber is also seated on the supervisory board of Ukrnafta, a Ukrainian oil and gas company, in which the Privat Group (Kolomoyskyi and Boholiubov) holds a substantial stake.

Korf is a member of one of the most renowned families from the Chabad movement. His parents, Abraham and Rivka, arrived in Miami from Brooklyn in the early 1960s as emissaries of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson.¹⁴⁹ Laber has served as a director for Jewish Educational Media, a non-profit organization that promotes the works and ideas of Grand Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the founder of the movement. They have donated large amounts to this organization as well as the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS and one more charity, Colel Chabad.

From 2009 to 2010, Central European Media Enterprises sold 1+1 TV channel to its minority shareholder Kolomoyskyi.

Central European Media Enterprises was established by the billionaire Ronald Lauder, one of the owners of the Estee Lauder Companies incorporated in Bermuda. He is a member of the famous Lauder family. His mother, Estee Lauder, is the founder of the U.S.-based cosmetics company.

In 1984, Ronald became Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO policy at the United States Department of Defense and served as the United States Ambassador to Austria.

Lauder is the President of the World Jewish Congress, a member of the U.S. Republican Party, a representative of the Israeli lobby, a vocal supporter of the Likud party, with long­standing ties to Benjamin Netanyahu and close ties to Chabad. In Austria, the Jewish educational institution, Lauder Chabad Campus owned by the Chabad movement, bears his family’s last name. Lauder is its permanent sponsor.

Lauder’s son-in-law, Kevin Warsh, was an FRS board member from 2006 to 2011. He was the youngest FRS board member, nominated by Bush Jr. , a former steering committee member of the Bilderberg Group. He is also a former executive director of Morgan Stanley and worked in New York to sort out details with Goldman.

U.S. Democratic Party

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is an American politician and a member of the Democratic Party who served as a U.S. representative for Florida’s 26th congressional district from 2019 to 2021. In 2023, she announced she would be running in the 2024 United States Senate election in Florida against incumbent Republican Rick Scott. She volunteered for the presidential campaigns of John Kerry and Barack Obama and ran unsuccessfully for the Florida Senate in 2016.

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell received about $10,000 for her election campaign from the employees and agents of the Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi.

The known facts and contributions to Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s campaign from the employees and agents working for Ihor Kolomoyskyi include: In September, 2017, Robert Powell contributed $2,700 to Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s campaign, listing his employer as Georgian American Alloys, Inc.

• Between December 2017 and August 2018, Uriel Laber contributed $2,500 to Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s campaign, and lists his employer as Felman Trading.
• In September 2017, Thad Florence, who listed his employer as Optima Specialty Steel, contributed $1,500 to Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.
• Daniela Rost, Georgian American Alloys Associate General Counsel, contributed $100.
• In both September 2017 and June 2019, Frank Rodriguez contributed $1,000 to Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s campaign, for a total of $2,000.

The aforementioned Robert Powell is Debbie Mucarsel-Powell’s spouse, and, according to the information provided, had ties to companies affiliated with the Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi. Robert Powell acted as the General Counsel or Chief General Counsel for the businesses associated with Kolomoyskyi and financial shenanigans.

CONNECTIONS OF THE KOLOMOISKY – BOGOLYUBOV CLAN

Conclusions

Ihor Kolomoyskyi appeared to be one of the unsinkable figures among the Ukrainian business and political elites – he was a representative of the informal post-Soviet Dnipropetrovsk clan in the Ukrainian establishment, also including former President Leonid Kuchma and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. The Privat Group is backed by the influential global Jewish orthodox movement, Chabad, whose members acted as intermediaries in laundering Kolomoyskyi’s money.

The PrivatBank Group is at war with the Soros-Pinchuk alliance. Until recently, Kolomoyskyi and Boholiubov have been among the most influential players in the finance, oil industry and ferroalloy market, and waves of lawsuits are rapidly stripping them of key assets. The group faced consolidated forces of Soros-linked anti-corruption individuals and organizations with the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine at the heart of this alliance. The Privat Group had many corruption schemes. They financed and protected Zelenskyy.

Kolomoyskyi’s media empire, 1+1 media, established by the Chabad member and U.S. conservative Ronald Lauder and his Central European Media Enterprises, became a powerful tool of influence in the campaign of the now incumbent president. The Lauder family are Chabad members and sponsors. Also, Kolomoyskyi was tied to Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, who volunteered for the presidential campaigns of John Kerry and Barack Obama, and her husband Robert Powell.

In March 2021, the U.S. sanctioned Kolomoyskyi and his associates. Zelenskyy openly supported Washington’s decision despite Kolomoyskyi’s help in the election campaign.

Stripping citizenship and lack of strategic alliances or protection of the British and U.S. structures, having influence in Ukraine, means seizing assets effectively blocks the Privat Group’s comeback to big politics in any of the alternative political scenarios in the foreseeable future.

Maksym Lytvyn and Oleksiy Shevchenko (Grammarly)

Max Lytvyn (Maksym Lytvyn) is a Ukrainian programmer and billionaire, a co-founder of Grammarly.

In addition to his work in the tech industry, Max Lytvyn is also passionate about social and environmental issues. He has been a supporter of several charitable organizations and non-profits, including the Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation and the Nature Conservancy.

• The project was funded by Sax Capital. In 2021, Max Lytvyn was named Entrepreneur of the Year by Goldman Sachs for his exceptional work as the co-founder and CTO of Grammarly.
• In 2021, Max Lytvyn was named among the Top 40 under 40 by Silicon Valley Business Journal.

He was among the bidders to buy Chelsea FC.

Alex Shevchenko (Oleksiy Shevchenko)

In 2001, he received a bachelor’s degree from the Kyiv International University. It was during this time that Shevchenko met his future co-founder Max Lytvyn.

In addition to Grammarly, he also serves on the board of FarmTogether, a tech investment platform for farming lands, where he is a seed investor.

Lytvyn and Shevchenko met during their studies at the International Christian University (ICU).

A minority shareholder (1%), Dmytro Lider oversees Grammarly’s social initiatives in Ukraine.

Grammarly’s funding of philanthropic initiatives includes:

• United24 Foundation
• KOLO Foundation is a charity which has transferred 140 pieces of equipment to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Territorial Defense, cooperates with and implements projects with companies and non-governmental organizations, including PLAST, Ukraine’s national scout organization. PLAST operates in nine countries across the world (including the USA, Argentina, Canada, Australia, Austria, UK, Germany, Poland, and Slovakia). Back in the day, many leaders and active members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) were brought up by PLAST, including the nationalist Stepan Bandera and UPA general Roman Shukhevych.
• The Hospitallers (Hospitaliery) are a Ukrainian volunteer medical battalion, a unit of the nationalist Right Sector Ukrainian Volunteer Corps.
• Come Back Alive Foundation (romanized: Povernys’ zhyvym) is a foundation that provides all sorts of support to service members in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
• The New Ukraine Foundation (Nova Ukraine) is a U.S.-based non-profit organization established in March 2014 as a successor of the Maidan San Francisco movement and incorporated in California to raise awareness of Ukraine in the United States and all over the world.
• The Razom Foundation is a Ukrainian-American non-profit advocacy group established in 2014 by the Euromaidan supporters. The organization is engaged in propaganda activities in other countries (chiefly, in the United States) to draw attention and provide comprehensive assistance to the existing Ukrainian regime. The foundation has raised about $71 million since the outbreak of war.
• The Your Support Foundation is one of Ukraine’s largest foundations established in 2014 providing humanitarian aid to the inhabitants of the country.
• Mason Wasz Foundation is a foundation helping sick children.
• Greater Manhattan Community Foundation is an organization dedicated to improving life in Greater Manhattan.

Grammarly is the most expensive company with Ukrainian roots. By the end of 2022, the overall capital of Grammarly founders exceeded Rinat Akhmetov’s fortune.

Grammarly, a startup whose software pinpoints problems arising when people write in its web application and other programs.

In 2011, Bradley Hoover, the company’s current CEO, joined Grammarly. Hoover helped the founders turn the program into a company that guided everything they did going forward. According to him, the company has been profitable practically “since its inception.” Grammarly also has offices in Vancouver, New York, and Germany. In 2022, Grammarly moved most of its staff from Kyiv to Berlin.

Grammarly raised funding from General Catalyst Partners, IVP and private investors. The company value is estimated at $13 billion after raising new funding of $200 million from Baillie Gifford, General Catalyst, foundations and accounts managed by BlackRock, Founders Circle Capital, and other investors.

Curiously, Grammarly CEO Brad Hoover is a former investor of the venture company General Catalyst Partners. There he worked with fast-growing consumer internet, SaaS and mobile communications companies as a management board member and an adviser. General

Catalyst is also a strategic investor of defense projects, such as Helsing AI for different military-grade equipment – tanks, submarines, warplanes in cooperation with Saab, a Sweden-based aircraft and defense company owned by the Wallenberg family.¹⁵³

Unaten24 – Richard Brandson – Omidyar Network

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Grammarly founders have become active participants in charity events in support of the Ukrainian government’s humanitarian and military mission. They have also called for rallies against the Russian aggression.

Among Ukrainian organizations and foundations to which Grammarly sent donations are the government foundation established by Zelenskyy, Unaten24, with which Grammarly has the closest ties. As noted above, it is Unaten24 that gained funds from proceeds received from Russia since 2014.

Also, Grammarly’s representatives attended charity events hosted by the foundation which also raised funds for the Ukrainian government.

The foundation has established an extensive international network of ambassadors consisting of public figures, celebrities and businessmen lobbying the interests of the Ukrainian government abroad.

The most active Unaten24 ambassador is Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson who is closely tied to Pierre Omidyar, the founder of Omidyar Network, a philanthropic network at the core of the capitalism “reset.¹⁵⁴” The Ukrainian branch of the Aspen Institute is funded by Luminate Omidyar.

Branson’s circle of acquaintances includes founders of the world’s largest busin ess empires and lobbyists. Among them is George Soros whom Branson, as he says, considers a friend. Branson supported the Euromaidan.¹⁵⁵

Branson also condemned the Hungarian government after they attempted to close the Central European University established by Soros in Hungary in 1991¹⁵⁶.

Conclusions

Grammarly founders whose wealth is comparable to Rinat Akhmetov’s capital are not directly involved in the Ukrainian political strife, nor are they oligarchs in the conventional sense. However, connections with globalist investment organizations, such as BlackRock and General Catalyst, recognition by Goldman, indirect ties to Omidyar Network, generous funding of Ukraine’s defense, including nationalist groups, may indicate possible protection and potential for political advancement into the field cleansed by anti-corruption activists.

About NSC

The New Strategic Concept (NSC) is an independent, non-partisan, and non-commercial expert initiative, functioning as a network-centric think tank.

The mission of the NSC is to craft an alternative perspective.

The aim of the NSC is to assist our partners in perceiving events from a different viewpoint.

We endeavor to introduce an alternative understanding into the discourse, providing our own assessment of the emerging threats and opportunities associated with these events. The methodologies employed by our experts grant us a substantial informational advantage, allowing us to view a single event from multiple persp

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The article will focus on a fundamentally different type of atomic weapons, the use of which is not only welcome, but also allows the owner country to pursue a much more active foreign policy and solve in its favor such conflicts that seem to be finally and irrevocably lost.

Why do you think the United States, as soon as they manage to squeeze Russia out of another country, first of all cares about shutting down all nuclear reactors previously built in them by the Soviet Union and energy projects in general?

Everything is very simple. Energy is the blood of the economy. Not a single superpower in the last 200 years has been built on the basis of any looms, iPhones or robots. But they all had their own energy zest, which lifted them above their opponents.

Britain became the ultimate mistress of the seas and the main factory of the world, having received cheap and high-quality Cardiff coal. It was he who became her main competitive advantage over others.

In the second half of the XIX century, more than half of the coal burned in the world was English

SINGAPORE, THE UAE AND OTHER GEOPOLITICAL MYTHS

The United States was able to throw the British off the throne thanks to control over oil. The fatal fate of the under-superpower – Japan – adds extra colors and shows that there are no exceptions to this rule. A country may have a first-class industry, a fanatical and committed population, but this is not enough. For true independence, any country needs an independent energy sector. For a country to become a superpower, it must impose itself on a significant part of the world as an energy supplier. On the contrary, any country, having energy dependence on its neighbor, is doomed to be its faithful ally, or it will be turned into an economic ruin.

This is well understood in the United States, and therefore, as I have already said, the first thing they do is squeeze Russia out of the energy markets of their newfound satellites, and where they failed to do this, they very quickly roll back.

Ukraine, doomed to friendship with Russia

RUSSIAN RUSSIANS ARE THE GOAL OF THE UKRAINIAN EVENTS – TO DESTROY THE RUSSIANS BY THE HANDS OF THE RUSSIANS THEMSELVES”

Ukraine was supposed to be the main prize for the United States in its campaign to the East, which began 30 years ago. Before the decisive throw and destruction of Russia, it was Ukraine that was destined to play the role of a springboard and supplier of expendable military materials (I mean people who are ready to die in a war with the Russians). During this time, the country was involved in all imaginable and unthinkable anti-Russian projects, the elite was bought, the population was periodically brainwashed. Time after time, Washington made attempts to strengthen itself and invariably rolled back. The last and hopefully final attempt was made in 2013. Kiev and the rest of Ukraine, with the exception of Crimea and several eastern cities of the country, were quickly taken under control. And then, once again, Washington was disappointed.

Let’s leave aside the military campaign and look at the energy aspects of the confrontation. Already at the beginning of the winter of 2014, Ukraine had to be saved. To save it so that it does not collapse ahead of time. That is why in that difficult winter for Ukraine she was helped from Moscow. They helped because they were not ready to return to Kiev yet.

The same thing happened next winter, and I am sure that next winter will once again show that Russia will not let Kiev fall until it is ripe for its absorption. If Moscow had returned Ukraine at the end of 2014, in a few years it would have been raking out the problems of 30 million people who hate it because its tanks did not allow them to fully enjoy European life. And so they still have plenty of time for this.

That is why the attack on Mariupol was stopped in August 2014 and the APU, which at that time were the remnants of broken and completely demoralized detachments, unable to resist for a long time, were not finished off.

Ukraine, obviously, could not survive the first winter without the help of its neighbors, and therefore Russia began to “aggressively” supply it with gas, coal and fuel for nuclear power plants. Often in debt, realizing that these debts will never be repaid.

WITHERING OF THE UKRAINIAN ATOM

2.5 years have passed, and Ukraine’s energy dependence on Russia has only increased in percentage terms. Neither the energy saving program (freezing of the population and destruction of industry) nor the transition to alternative sources helped Kiev. Russian gas was replaced with Russian coal, which for some reason became known as South African, oil and gasoline – with Russian liquefied gas (up to 50% of liquefied gas in Ukraine is of Russian origin). And the transition to nuclear rods from Westinghouse is associated with a significant number of organizational and technological problems and cannot be implemented even in the medium term.

Only the technological transition on one test unit will take at least 8 years and then at least 4 more years, when it will be possible to completely abandon the Russian rods. No way faster.

But Kiev and Washington obviously don’t have these 12 years. Summing up the results of attempts to separate Ukraine from Russia, we must admit that, despite enormous efforts and well-planned hybrid strikes, they failed. Kiev is still critically dependent on Moscow, and its regime can be brought down at its will within one calendar year. And it will be brought down as soon as everything is ready to collect the fruits of this collapse.

THE IDEOLOGY OF GENOCIDE IN UKRAINE

The date is currently being viewed no later than 2020. But the regime still needs to reach it, which means that Moscow will continue to help its opponent, despite the rhetoric and demonstrative spitting in its direction from Kiev.

I know it sounds crazy, but that’s exactly the logic of modern hybrid wars. To understand it, let’s turn to another case.

Affectionate embrace of Turkey

THIRD WORLD, TRANSIT: ABOUT THE CHOICE FOR TURKEY

A significant event took place yesterday. A contract was signed in Turkey for the construction of the first stage of the Turkish Stream, according to which Russian gas will bypass Ukraine to Turkey and Europe. Today it is easy to build dizzying plans in your head about the advantages that Russia will receive in the future. And on November 24, 2015, it seemed to many that Russian policy in the Middle East had failed and the country was facing a long and tough confrontation with the Turkish Republic, which, of course, in this case would be helped by all “progressive humanity”.

It seemed to many, but not to those who, a few years before, had made such a turn… impossible.

Turkey’s economy is critically dependent on energy imports. Surrounded on all sides by enemies, she could not rely on a reliable ally. The Turkish “two-vector approach” at that time, in fact, was no different from the Ukrainian one, with one exception: initially all its energy projects were not tied to Russia. But gradually, step by step, Moscow entered the energy market of Ankara. In the beginning, it ensured Turkey’s independence from the West, allowing it to begin to get impudent and put into practice the implementation of its neo-Ottoman project. At the same time, energy consumption was growing in the country, and before the crisis in the Middle East (2011), this growth was up to 9% per year. The power system did not have time to fulfill all the requests of the rapidly growing industry and the service sector, and therefore constant blackouts in the provinces were normal practice. It was obvious to the Turkish leadership that a breakthrough was needed, otherwise they would have to forget about the Turkish economic miracle. In 2010, Turkey, after much hesitation and searching, concluded an agreement with Moscow for the construction of a four-unit Akkuyu NPS with an installation capacity of 4.8 GW.

At that time, the entire energy sector of Turkey had only 21 GW of generation

THE GAME OF GAS PIPELINES. NEW SEASON

And taking into account the fact that half of the country’s generation consisted of thermal power plants, as well as taking into account the import of a significant share of coal and gas from Russia, Turkey’s dependence in the energy sector has become critical and even strategic. All this played a role during the crisis of 2015. Despite desperate attempts on the part of the United States to sever these new economic ties between Moscow and Ankara and push the two countries head-on, they failed.

Moreover, we must understand that this state of affairs will not last 5 or even 10 years. The service life of the new nuclear units will be 50-60 years, and the gas pipe – at least 30 years. And all this time, Turkey will not have a desire to put sticks in the wheels of Russian diplomacy without very strong arguments, and if it suddenly does, it will regret it very quickly, as it happened at the end of 2015.

Hybrid Energy Wars

What will be the energy of the future? Whoever is the first to answer this question correctly has every reason to claim the role of a future superpower. There are exactly four applicants for today. Or rather, two, and two should be kept in mind.

To begin with, two underplays. These are Europe and China.

Europe has made a bet on two main directions. The first is wind and sun, and the second is a new generation of nuclear power plants from AREVA. With the new nuclear power plant, so far everything is not as good as the developers would like, and the wind and the sun, simultaneously with the decommissioning of the old nuclear power plants in Germany, have led the continent to a shortage of basic capacities and an increase in the cost of electricity, which is beginning to slow down its economy.

China is growing very fast. Its energy needs are so great that for a very long time they will not be able to be satisfied at the expense of internal resources (if at all). So far, the country is totally dependent on foreign energy technologies (nuclear power plants) and fossil fuels. In the foreseeable future, China is not able to get rid of it, and therefore Beijing will be vulnerable and dependent for a very long time and will not be able to be a superpower in the full sense of the word.

Rather, it will be another “pro-Russian” and very big Japan

IS THE SHALE REVOLUTION A GREAT HOAX?

So, the first real player is the current only superpower of the United States. It has made a bet on more complete extraction of traditional oil and gas and is developing these areas. Their calculation is that deposits with cheap prime cost will soon run out, their shale will be in demand and will feed the country for several more decades, and they will become a trendsetter, a source of technology, which will provide them with advantages. It cannot be said that they tried only this direction. Also, the United States was one of the first to try to subdue nuclear energy. To do this, the political levers and developments of Westinghouse were used. But the latter has not yet managed to master the construction of a new generation of reactors, and probably will not be able to do so soon. In any case, they are already far behind Russia in the nuclear power industry and are unlikely to be able to catch up with it. At the same time, Washington’s political levers are weakening, and countries are getting out of their control one by one, bowing to their geopolitical opponents.

The second player is Russia. She, like no one else, has all the possibilities for a breakthrough. And in different directions. Possessing colossal energy resources (from hydro to coal, oil and gas) and having made a qualitative breakthrough in nuclear energy (having overtaken competitors at the same time), it currently provides the world (primarily Eurasia) with a lot of unique energy projects.

Asian Super-ring: creation of a new 15 kW energy cluster in the Far East for looping the energy systems of Russia, China, Japan and South Korea into one. This will not only tie the three leading Asian economies to it, but will also allow them to deploy infrastructure for future projects in their Far East at their expense.

Development of traditional gas and oil fields in the Arctic and the Far East. By doing this, the Russian Federation will be able not only to bind new consumers to itself, but also to prevent the American shale strategy from working (the fight against which is being waged today on all fronts)

And finally, the construction of new nuclear power plants around the world. Today, contracts have been signed and 36 nuclear power units are being built (plus 8 units are being built in Russia). This is about half of the world market (if we count American and European long-term construction projects). Moreover , the geography of construction is remarkable: Turkey, Hungary, Belarus, Iran, India, Vietnam, Bangladesh, China, Finland. Agreements have also been concluded with Egypt and Jordan. There are several more projects on the way.

What does this mean for Russia

The construction of stations and their maintenance are projects for 60-70 years (with the extension of the life of the blocks – up to 100 years). For a hundred years, the country that built the nuclear power plant will be like Ukraine dependent on Russia in the energy sector.

And it will also bring her money. A lot of money.

RUSSIA HAS A CONTROLLING STAKE IN NUCLEAR ENERGY

PUTIN’S NUCLEAR SURPRISE

And all this time, the probability of a conflict between Rosatom’s partner countries and Russia, thanks to the construction of nuclear reactors, will decrease. The example of Turkey today is very indicative. If we look again at the geography of nuclear construction sites, we will see that Russia surrounds itself with countries that are atomically dependent on it, and also builds new nuclear power plants in regions that are critically important to itself. This is the atomic hybrid weapon that can and should be used. And it’s already in use. The current gain in the new nuclear market allows Moscow to pursue an increasingly offensive policy in the world and is an important lever for solving its geopolitical tasks. Today we see this very well in the examples of Ukraine, Turkey, Iran, Hungary and Finland. Tomorrow it will be other countries in Asia and the Middle East, and the day after tomorrow Rosatom will begin to work actively in Africa and South America.

Even the United States has not escaped this fate. Very soon, Russian nuclear fuel will begin to conquer the market of its main political opponent.

Meanwhile, a new ambitious project is coming to the finish line in Russia: the closure of the nuclear cycle, which in the future a couple of decades will allow the industry to develop rapidly without increasing the raw material base, dramatically reduce the problems with spent nuclear fuel and the cost of electricity. And also, if this concept is successfully promoted in the world, it will not only provide the country with huge financial revenues for decades, but will also become another strategic nuclear shield of the country.

The post HYBRID NUCLEAR WEAPONS OF RUSSIA first appeared on Global Policy.

– Recently, the Forsa Institute conducted a survey, which showed that the majority of German citizens have a positive attitude to the construction of the Nord stream — 2 gas pipeline. In General, 73% of respondents have a positive attitude to the project, while only 16% believe that Germany could do without it. Why Germany is so keen on the “Nord stream — 2”?

– “Nord stream-2” is, in fact, the Royal gift of Germany from Ukraine. In this case, Russia and Germany in the current political situation simply implemented this economic project. And they implemented the mobilization of this project for the simple reason that Ukraine discredited itself as a transit country. And discredited both in terms of reliability and in terms of contractual capacity. The proceedings in Stockholm and the absolute politicization of the process of negotiations on the further use of the Ukrainian gas transportation system have been booming all over the world in the last five years. All these things have updated the implementation of Nord stream 2 and enabled Germany to become a key player in the European gas market, as most of the Russian gas will be distributed through the German market — through German exchanges, through German oil and gas companies.

That’s what we are talking about and that, in fact, so concerned about the States – the economic strengthening of Germany

Moreover, the support of the Germans for this project is very clear, since Germany receives economic preferences against the background of the implementation of such a project and Russia’s political support in the European Union. First, preferences in the form of gas prices, which are clearly lower (and this is clear from the statements of German officials) than the price on the European market as a whole. And the second point is the issue of additional economic dividends that Germany receives in the form of participation in the project itself. Not only Germany, but also those countries that take part in it. By and large, these are jobs: loading of metallurgical steel enterprises, orders and contracts with service companies. Don’t forget, any modern pipeline is and telemetry, and it is connected and IT-sector. It should be understood that this is a technologically complex project, and not only large oil and gas companies are interested in its implementation, but also a number of companies that are involved in the process of its creation, in the process of its operation.

– The results of the same survey showed that 90% of German respondents believe that trump’s threats to the Nord stream-2 are based solely on economic interests — the desire to sell American liquefied gas to Germany. How realistic are these plans of the United States?

— There is nothing unreal, the whole question is the price and volume. There are very strict economic laws, and no one will go to any preferences in favor of political agreements. Therefore, the American liquefied gas will be purchased, but in small volumes. If the States cannot offer a sufficiently competitive price, then it will be a political curtsey. As it was when Angela Merkel agreed to build another, useless, LNG terminal in Germany. But again, it will be a gesture, not a real economic or business project. The volume of purchases of liquefied gas from the United States will be minimized, and this should be regarded only from the point of view of the polites in relations between the countries.

– The US has one last chance to block the gas pipeline: the introduction of sanctions against companies that physically lay pipes or participate in the financing of construction. German foreign Minister Haiko Maas said that the exit of Western companies, including German concerns, will not lead to the curtailment of the project. In this case, Russia is implementing it alone. Will Russia be able to finish the construction of the gas pipeline on its own?

– Now Gazprom is in the process of searching for loans, we are talking about six billion euros. But we must understand that there is no problem for Russia to enter the foreign borrowing market. And the profitability of the Nord stream-2 will allow you to return the borrowed funds quickly enough. In March, “Gazprom” has placed in London bonds for 750 million euros at 2.5%, and test a sovereign loan of one billion euros was under 3%. In principle, I think it will not be difficult to find 6 billion euros in foreign markets to complete this project.

As for laying pipes on the bottom, who does not want to earn? I think that, firstly, there will be willing, and secondly, there will be legal loopholes that will allow the implementation of such a project under another jurisdiction or in some other way. Because formally the building permit is granted, and no one will withdraw it — all the formal procedures are completed.

The biggest problem of the “Nord stream-2” is still not at sea, but on land. This is a question of completion of the EUGAL gas pipeline on the territory of Germany, that is, by what time it will be completed. And this is the normative regulation of the functioning of both the “Nord stream -2 “and the branches — ORAL from the” Nord stream — 1 “and EUGAL from the”Nord stream — 2”. It is here that problems may arise: arbitration, courts, blocking by the European Commission, in fact, legislative bureaucratic obstacles for the use of gas pipelines by 100%, that is, for pumping 110 billion cubic meters of gas per year through Germany. For example, Romania, as the President of the EU Council, recently submitted a new version of amendments to the EU Gas Directive, which may affect the projects implemented by Gazprom for the construction of the Nord stream — 2 offshore gas pipeline and the continuation of the Turkish stream to European countries.

– That is, the construction of Nord stream 2 will necessarily be completed?

— Yeah. But the main problem for Ukraine is not in the completion or unfinished construction of the Nord stream — 2, but inside the country. This is a question of transformation of Naftogaz of Ukraine and its transition to work according to European rules, norms and, accordingly, the creation of conditions for the preservation of transit in the largest possible volume. We are talking, first of all, about the normative part. Ukraine must meet all the conditions for the division of Naftogaz, for the creation of an independent operator, which must be certified by the European Commission. In other words, a structure that will be able to assume all obligations for the transit of Russian gas from January 1, 2020 should be absolutely ready for operation.

Further-contractual work (that in Ukraine is completely failed). Contractual work with Gazprom and European companies. And with European companies-in two directions. The first is the possibility of attracting investments or management partners, to which the Europeans, in principle, are ready. But they want to understand very clearly the economic reasons for inclusion in such projects: if there is a policy of minimizing the volume of transit, it will be wasted money. And the second is the contractual work on changing the point of gas transmission, respectively, the use of the Ukrainian route, and not the Northern direction. But it also requires interest. Europe should understand the economic reasons for the work on the Ukrainian route.

– European countries are divided: some are against the Nord stream-2, others are for, others are hesitant. Who and what did not please the Nord stream — 2?

— Satellites of the USA: Baltic States, Poland, Ukraine, partially Moldova are against. And their statements are purely political. Poland, which contracts American gas and says that it will be 30% cheaper than Russian. A very controversial statement from the point of view of economic expediency of such decision. If this is an anti-Russian position, then we are again talking about politics, the economy is simply not there. Because any country, normal, European, seeks to diversify sources, that is, the more sources of income you have, the more you have room for maneuver on the price.

– Germany warned that in case of sanctions against Nord stream 2, no one will guarantee transit through the Ukrainian GTS. What does it mean for Ukraine?

– The Germans say that they are ready to guarantee transit. That is, they give an indirect hint that they are ready to contract for the supply of gas along the Ukrainian route and lobby for this issue. Ukraine considers itself the navel of the earth, the center of gas transit, but this is not so. Therefore, obtaining the support of the same Germany is important for Ukraine. For Germany, this is also interesting from the point of view of the system of a certain counterweight, so as not to become completely dependent on the implementation of the Nord stream — 2.

But again, if Ukraine tries to remain politically under the influence of the United States and at the same time receive lobbying efforts from Germany, then it will not be possible to sit on two chairs. Here it is necessary to be defined very accurately where there is Ukraine in this system of political coordinates. If it continues to go in the Wake of US foreign policy, then I am afraid that we should not count on Germany’s support — it will be purely formal.

If Ukraine wants to receive certain economic dividends and support from the major players of the European Union, primarily Germany and France (and possibly Italy, which in principle will not object to have a reserve source of Russian gas not only on the “Turkish stream”, but also on the Ukrainian route), then it just needs to determine its foreign policy priorities. Otherwise, you can just stay at the broken trough, as in the famous fairy tale.

– Ukraine has begun test operation on natural gas exports. Why this is done?

– Option two. First, when ” Naftogaz will be divided, and will operate an independent operator, of course, will be able to so-called “virtual reverse”, that is, replacement schemes. These are purely technical issues.
And the second option. That policy, which is actively implemented and will probably continue further in case of Poroshenko’s repeated victory in the elections. This is an opportunity to export Ukrainian gas after gas prices inside the country will be brought to the level of European (that is, the conditions for non-discrimination will be met, which is spelled out in the Association Agreement with the EU), and 30% of the shares of “ukrgasvydobuvannya” will be put up for sale.

– Ukraine produces enough gas to export it?

— No. But can simply further reduce its consumption. Today, Ukraine already covers two-thirds of its gas needs-have survived! – not because of energy efficiency, but because of reduced consumption. The population with” communal ” consumes about 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year, the industry consumes 10 billion cubic meters. The tendency to reduce the number of cities using Central heating is quite high. The transition to the private small boiler corny firewood, straw and dung is also quite high. Further reduction of the industry — no growth drivers are expected. So we can get to zero fast enough. In Ukraine, the construction industry and metallurgy are still quite large consumers of gas in the industry, the chemistry has already “blown away”.

I do not rule out that our own gas will be exported and imported at the same time. This is a free market, and, relatively speaking, private companies that produce five billion cubic meters of gas in Ukraine want to be able to export it freely.

The post NORD STREAM – 2: A ROYAL GIFT TO UKRAINE FOR GERMANY first appeared on Global Policy.

The new laws oblige to have an adequate material base under the account-an office, qualified employees, reports on the expenses of this office and so on. Reforms for new companies have launched Bermuda, The British virgin Islands (BVI), the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Jersey, Maine, Mauritius, the Bahamas and Seychelles – they operate from 1 January this year, the old gave time to bring things in line with the declared activities – a transitional period.

Penalties for failure to comply with the conditions specified in the new rules are severe – up to criminal liability to owners and exclusion from the register, and for the first failure to provide information, for example, in The British virgin Islands can be fined at least $ 5 thousand.

How will the Russian offshore aristocracy behave now?

Head of the center for political economic research of the Institute of new society, economist Vasily Koltashov says- ” there is a corral hunt»:

“It cannot be excluded that now there will be a withdrawal of capital, including funds hidden in offshore, because these capitals are not really protected if the us government wants to take away funds in any offshore.”

The economist recalls that the policy of offshore companies was based on the idea that the national state dies and, in principle, will no longer influence anything. Now we are witnessing the reverse process, the national state, for example, in the interests of major American national players can easily Rob our oligarchs – for its own benefit.

“It turns out that if you do not have a strong national state that will protect you, then you have no guarantees, no rear. And the mockery of Abramovich, when he was not allowed to go to Britain, and the fact that Derepaska was thrown out of his own company, literally pushed the Americans under the guise of transactions is all one campaign,” he says.

Why should countries with low tax rates destroy a mutually beneficial Alliance with Russian and other offshore companies? After all, these “fairy Islands” attracted about half of the profits of international companies.

Lost paradise

“Fairy Islands” are not the leaders of the processes, they do not trigger trends and they do not stop them, once in the 1970s and 1980s, these processes launched such centers of power as the UK, the United States, they allowed the possibility of these offshore companies, seduced the elite of developing countries and guaranteed that everything will be safe. But now there are no guarantees-there is pressure.

Indeed, in the summer of 2018, the first bell rang in Cyprus, when the Republic in early may was visited by representatives of the us Treasury – Cyprus banks began to close the accounts of offshore companies under pressure from the Central Bank, analysts then called the price of loss – under the blow was 70 billion euros of Russian origin.

Cyprus has been the main Russian offshore for more than 15 years, we can say, “financial Paradise” for Russian businessmen – citizenship when buying real estate, low taxes, stable currency, no reporting on the origin of funds. Now under the attention and got all the Russian depositors. Last summer, as if preparing for such a situation, Vladimir Putin prepared a small “pen” for economic refugees – he signed a package of laws establishing two zones in Russia with preferential conditions for foreign companies – on Russky island in Primorsky Krai and Oktyabrsky island in Kaliningrad region.

Apparently, the hard times have really come

The other day it became known, members of the Board of Directors of PJSC “Chelyabinsk pipe rolling plant” Andrey Komarov and Alexander Fedorov became direct owners of shares of the plant. Previously, they belonged to offshore companies. As part of the restructuring Komarov became the owner of 49.4% of the shares owned by Arbordeen International Limited, Fedorov — 6.9% of the shares owned by Poweredge Holdings Ltd. Considering the indirect ownership of shares of JSC “Chelyabinsk tube rolling plant” JSC “Pervouralsk new pipe plant”, Andrey Komarov and Alexander Fedorov together control over 80% of JSC “CHTPZ”. The group is one of the ten largest producers of pipe products in Russia.

The news, as they say, out of the ordinary. Further-more?

“Our offshore aristocracy should think about where it will run, as soon as it is no longer enough to have local staff in the offshore, have a permanent office and the like, and run it especially nowhere. She can only run home, because the new rules of the game imply that someone will try to Rob her. There is a corral hunting, and it only begins, change of rules in offshore is a sign of corral hunting, it is conducted by the Western financial capital, first of all Anglo – Saxon, to a lesser extent in Europe”, – Vasily Koltashov notes.

“The rumors of my death are somewhat exaggerated»

HOW THE NSA MONITORS THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL SYSTEM

The fact that the Americans are making a new blow to the offshore aristocracy in the places of deployment of its capital, can not indicate that the offshore will go into the past forever, so says the political scientist, Director of the Center for political studies of the Financial University Pavel Salin. First, the expert draws attention to the fact that in the process of “pressure” a selective approach is noticeable among those who press the leadership of the countries in which offshore companies are located – that is, offshore companies not of Anglo-Saxon jurisdiction fall under pressure.

“It seems that under the slogans of the struggle against offshore companies, attempts are being made to stimulate the flow of money of the world elite to offshore jurisdictions, which are directly or indirectly controlled by Anglo-Saxon capital. There are exceptions-The British virgin Islands, but, nevertheless, there is no talk of a total struggle against all offshore companies. There are those who are “more equal than others” and remains in the shadow of attention of fighters with “dirty money”, – Salin speaks.

The tradition of keeping money in the shadow jurisdictions of the world elite has a long history and is unlikely to end on the episode with the closure of accounts of Russian Nouveau riches, can only change the form of storage of capital.

“This form, that is, the form of island Offshores, there is a fairly short time – it is 20, a maximum of 30 years of prosperity of island Offshores. But before that, there were ways to optimize taxation and to hide the real owners, and then there will be ways. The first thing that comes to mind now is cryptocurrencies, ” says Pavel Salin.

According to him, not in vain in the last few years there was such a flourishing of cryptocurrencies. It is necessary, of course, to approach differentially to each cryptocurrency, but they effectively allow you to maintain the anonymity of the owners of large assets. And the rise of bitcoin in 2017, among other things, was due to the flow of part of the money from offshore jurisdictions and some national States, where the requirements for rich people to cryptocurrencies were tightened. Another thing is that bitcoin has become an intermediate link in this flow.

The expert notes that the foreign authorities, the same USA, do much more for the deoffshorization of the Russian economy than the Russian ones. Money does return to the country, though not completely, but in part, they do not go to more favorable Russian conditions, and they are not so much attracted to the Russian leadership, offering more favorable conditions, as repel the authorities of Western countries. At the same time, the economist Vasily Koltashov believes that Russia should put pressure on its part, that is, not only to offer something profitable in the form of internal offshore companies, in the form of Eurobonds, but also to punish. Avoid ownership of Russian assets by offshore companies.

Give me back my October?

Doctor of historical Sciences, politician Vyacheslav Tetekin explains the activation of the American machine to raise money deep crisis, which flows into the entire world economy: “Of course, the destruction of the Soviet Union has allowed this economic system to survive another quarter of a century, without falling into a devastating crisis for her. But now it is quite clear there is a fall in world product.”

“Now our government began to “bake” already – they are taking measures to return the money to bring them out of the shadows. They fear the deepening of the global economic crisis, which may lead to events similar to October 1917 in Russia. That’s what worries them, and not caring about social justice, ” – said the expert.

Russian businessmen, who previously feared that their capital will be taken away by the state, are now afraid of very different things when they think about whether to return the money to the base? First, money is often simply nowhere to invest: with the participation of the same oligarchs, Tetekin notes, the productive economy was destroyed. There is nowhere to invest, you can only” put ” in not very reliable new Russian offshore. The second reason is the fear that the money will have to be returned, but not to the state.

“They are justly afraid that the people will demand to return stolen. Therefore prefer still, despite all threats, to keep them abroad, – Vyacheslav Tetekin speaks. – However, abroad, as the experience of a number of figures who tried to keep their holdings abroad – the money is very confidently selected. What happened to Deripaska showed that they were being taken to the impudent. Therefore, these guys, of course, need to return the money back to Russia – to repent, to return the money, to invest them – maybe the people will forgive them. Although it is doubtful”.

The post OFFSHORE FOR RUSSIAN OLIGARCHS IS CLOSE first appeared on Global Policy.

This document is a blatant betrayal of American interests in the field of nuclear energy, as it retains Russia’s dominance in the strategic industry, which generates 55% -60% of electricity.

However, to the people who are actively pumped up with militaristic rhetoric and Russophobia about continuation of friendship with “invader” for some reason didn’t begin to speak. Moreover, the head of “Energoatom” Yuri Nedashkovsky wrote to Prime Minister Vladimir Groysman that “the conclusion of such an additional agreement to the current contract with the Russian company may cause a negative resonance”, and expressed the opinion on the need to consider this issue at a closed interdepartmental meeting.

The Cabinet extended the monopoly “TVEL” for another seven years

Russians will serve 8 nuclear reactors out of 15, Russian TVEL – 60% of fuel supplies for nuclear reactors of Ukraine, while the American Westinghouse – 40%. Trying to reset itself “Kremlin fuel shackles “”Energoatom” after the coup d’etat of 2014 signed a contract with the American-Japanese company Westinghouse, which produces fuel at its plant in Sweden. However, it turned out that the nuclear reactors of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants are not adapted to it. As a result, the Swedish fuel is operated at Zaporizhzhya and South-Ukrainian nuclear power plants, which are constantly out of order.

The post UKRAINE SECRETLY SIGNED A CONTRACT WITH RUSSIA TO SUPPLY NUCLEAR FUEL UNTIL 2025 first appeared on Global Policy.