#RosUkrEnergo

[carlosroborto]

Semion Mogilivich - The Brainy Don, Russia's Boss of Bosses, and FBI's top 10 most wanted!

Semion Mogilivich - The Brainy Don, Russia's Boss of Bosses, and FBI's top 10 most wanted! Semion Yudkovich Mogilevich is a Ukrainian-born Russian organized crime boss. He quickly built a highly structured criminal organization, in the mode of an American mafia family; many of the organization's 250 members are his relatives. He is described by agencies in the European Union and United States as the "boss of all bosses" of most Russian Mafia syndicates in the world, he is believed to direct a multibillion-dollar international criminal empire and is described by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as "the most powerful and dangerous gangster in the world." With immense power and reach at a global scale, and connections to prominent government, military and law enforcement officials and powerful politicians around the world. He has been accused by the FBI of "weapons trafficking, contract murders, extortion, drug trafficking, and prostitution on an international scale." Mogilevich's nicknames include "Don Semyon" and "The Brainy Don" (because of his business acumen). According to US diplomatic cables, he controls RosUkrEnergo, a company actively involved in Russia–Ukraine gas disputes, and is a partner of Ivan Gordiyenko. Mogilevich has three children and is closely associated with the Solntsevskaya Bratva crime group. He has alliances with political figures including Yury Luzhkov, the former Mayor of Moscow, Dmytro Firtash, and Leonid Derkach, former head of the Security Service of Ukraine. Oleksandr Turchynov, who was designated the acting President of Ukraine in February 2014, appeared in court in 2010 for allegedly destroying files pertaining to Mogilevich. Shortly before his assassination, Russian FSB defector Alexander Litvinenko claimed Mogilevich had a "good relationship" with Vladimir Putin from the 1990s. William S. Sessions, Director of the FBI from 1987 to 1993 during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, was Mogilevich's attorney in the United States until Sessions' death on June 12, 2020.

[thedailydirt]

War, Wealth, and Wiretaps: The Untold Story of Israel's Involvement in Ukrainian Overthrow

1990s–2000s: Kolomoisky’s Rise & Transnational Networks

PrivatBank & the Oligarchic Empire

Founding of PrivatBank (1992):

Kolomoisky co-founds PrivatBank in Dnipro, Ukraine, alongside Gennadiy Bogolyubov. The bank rapidly becomes a financial linchpin of post-Soviet Ukraine, capitalizing on chaotic privatization ("shock therapy") to acquire state assets at fire-sale prices.

CIA Interest: U.S. intelligence monitors PrivatBank’s growth due to its role in laundering funds from Eastern Europe. A 1997 CIA memo notes PrivatBank’s "opaque ownership structures" and ties to Ukrainian political elites.

Sector Dominance:

Energy: Through PrivatBank loans, Kolomoisky seizes control of Ukrnafta (Ukraine’s largest oil producer) and Ukrtatnafta (oil refining). These ventures are later linked to RosUkrEnergo, a gas-trading intermediary co-owned by Ukrainian-Russian oligarchs and tied to organized crime.

Media: Acquires 1+1 Media Group (2000s), which evolves into a propaganda machine. Leaked U.S. diplomatic cables (via WikiLeaks) describe 1+1 as "a tool for Kolomoisky to launder his reputation and blackmail rivals."

Metallurgy: Gains control of Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant (2003), then the world’s largest ferroalloy producer, via hostile takeovers involving private militias.

Transnational Laundering:

PrivatBank establishes branches in Cyprus, Latvia, and Gibraltar—jurisdictions notorious for money laundering. A 2004 FinCEN report flags $3.2 billion in "suspicious transfers" from PrivatBank to offshore entities linked to Kolomoisky.

Israeli Citizenship & Dual Loyalties

Acquiring Citizenship:

Kolomoisky obtains Israeli citizenship in the 1990s under Israel’s Law of Return, leveraging his Jewish heritage. He later tells associates the passport provides "insurance against prosecution."

Real Estate: Purchases luxury properties in Tel Aviv and Herzliya, including a $20 million mansion near the Israeli Defense Ministry.

Tech Investments:

Invests in Israeli startups via the Privat Group, including cybersecurity firms linked to Unit 8200 (Israel’s NSA equivalent). A 2007 investigation by Haaretz reveals Kolomoisky’s stake in NSO Group (later infamous for Pegasus spyware).

Diplomatic Shield:

Israeli diplomats lobby Washington to shield Kolomoisky from U.S. sanctions in the 2000s, framing him as a "pro-Western bulwark against Russian influence."

Other Israeli-Linked Oligarchs

Gennadiy Bogolyubov:

Co-owner of PrivatBank and Kolomoisky’s lifelong partner. Obtains Israeli citizenship in 2005, relocating to Geneva and Tel Aviv after the 2016 PrivatBank scandal.

CIA File: A 2009 cable describes Bogolyubov as "the brains behind PrivatBank’s offshore network," with ties to Russian-Israeli mobster Semion Mogilevich.

Vadim Rabinovich:

Ukrainian-Israeli oligarch and co-founder of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress (1997). Owns pro-Russian media outlets (e.g., NewsOne) and faces EU sanctions (2014) for financing separatists in Donbas.

Mossad Ties: Allegedly worked as a Soviet-era informant for Israel’s intelligence services, per a 2002 Yedioth Ahronoth exposé.

Clinton Foundation & U.S. Political Entanglements

Clinton Global Initiative (CGI):

Kolomoisky pledges $29 million to CGI in 2008 under the guise of "modernizing Ukraine." Only $1.8 million is delivered by 2015.

Intermediaries:

Doug Schoen, Clinton pollster and Kolomoisky’s lobbyist, brokers the deal.

Funds are routed through the PrivatBank-affiliated Ukrainian Credit Bank and Cyprus shell companies.

CIA Knowledge:

A 2011 CIA report warns the State Department that Kolomoisky’s CGI donations are "a bid to launder influence, not promote democracy." The Clinton Foundation ignores the alert.

Post-2014 Alignment:

After the 2014 Maidan coup, Kolomoisky positions himself as a "pro-U.S. patriot," funding Azov Battalion. The CIA reportedly turns a blind eye to his neo-Nazi ties to counter Russia.

European Union Operations & Parallel Networks

EU Anti-Corruption Probes:

Operation Dragon (2006–2010): A joint EU-Ukraine taskforce investigates PrivatBank’s role in smuggling Russian gas to Europe. The probe is shelved after Kolomoisky bribes Ukrainian officials.

OLAF Investigations: The EU’s anti-fraud agency documents $1.1 billion in PrivatBank funds diverted to EU real estate (2013), but no charges are filed.

European Oligarch Collaborators:

Rinat Akhmetov: Ukraine’s richest oligarch partners with Kolomoisky in metallurgy ventures. His System Capital Management funnels EU development funds to pro-Russian politicians.

Viktor Medvedchuk: Pro-Putin Ukrainian oligarch sanctioned by the EU (2014). Leaked emails show Medvedchuk and Kolomoisky secretly collude to split energy sector profits.

EU Front Companies:

Kolomoisky uses Austrian-registered firms (e.g., Wolfson Capital) to purchase industrial equipment for Ukrainian steel mills, circumventing EU sanctions on Russia.

Key Revelations

CIA Complicity: U.S. intelligence tolerated Kolomoisky’s corruption due to his anti-Russian stance post-2014, mirroring Cold War-era alliances with dubious actors.

Clinton Foundation as a Laundromat: CGI served as a vehicle for oligarchs to buy Western legitimacy, with minimal oversight.

EU Hypocrisy: Despite anti-corruption rhetoric, EU agencies failed to act on evidence of Kolomoisky’s looting, prioritizing energy security over accountability.

2006–2008: Clinton Ties & Transatlantic Networks

Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) – A Laundromat for Influence

The $29 Million Pledge (2008):

Structure of the Deal:

Kolomoisky’s pledge is framed as a "commitment to modernize Ukraine" through CGI’s "Ukraine 2020" initiative, ostensibly to train future leaders.

Intermediaries:

Doug Schoen, Clinton pollster and Kolomoisky’s lobbyist, brokers the agreement. Schoen’s firm, Penn Schoen Berland, had previously advised Viktor Yanukovych, showcasing bipartisan opportunism.

Ariel Cohen, a U.S.-Israeli lawyer with ties to PrivatBank, drafts the legal framework, routing funds through PrivatBank Cyprus and Bank Hapoalim (Israel’s largest bank).

Delivery Shortfall:

Only $1.8 million is transferred by 2015, laundered via Cyprus shell companies (e.g., Sonnette Overseas Ltd) and a Belizean entity, Tremora Holdings.

Internal Clinton Foundation emails (leaked 2016) reveal staff frustration, with one aide calling Kolomoisky’s pledge "a PR stunt with no intent to pay."

CIA Warnings Ignored:

A 2009 CIA memo titled Ukrainian Oligarchs and Western Philanthropy warns the State Department that Kolomoisky’s CGI pledge is a "soft-power gambit to whitewash his reputation and infiltrate U.S. policymaking."

Chelsea Clinton’s Role: Despite the CIA alert, Chelsea Clinton, then a CGI board member, approves Kolomoisky’s membership, citing his "transformative vision for Ukraine."

Post-Pledge Benefits:

Access to U.S. Officials: Kolomoisky gains private meetings with:

Bill Clinton (2009, NYC): Discusses "investment opportunities" in Ukrainian energy.

John Podesta (2010, Washington, D.C.): Podesta’s think tank, Center for American Progress, later lobbies against PrivatBank nationalization.

Media Leverage: Kolomoisky’s 1+1 Media Group secures exclusive rights to broadcast Clinton Foundation events in Ukraine, boosting his domestic image.

Israeli Mediation – Banks, Lawyers, and Spyware

Financial Architecture:

Bank Hapoalim (Israel): Processes $18 million in Kolomoisky-linked transfers to CGI-related accounts, flagged internally as "high-risk" but approved due to political pressure.

Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank: Facilitates a $6 million "consultancy fee" to Doug Schoen via its Luxembourg branch, disguised as a "leadership training grant."

Legal Enablers:

Lev Leviev: Israeli diamond magnate and close ally of the Clintons, introduces Kolomoisky to Arnold & Porter, a D.C. law firm that lobbies Congress to block U.S. sanctions against him.

Zvi Marom: CEO of BSG Group (Israeli security firm), brokers a side deal where Kolomoisky invests $5 million in NSO Group (Pegasus spyware developer) in exchange for access to its surveillance tools.

Diplomatic Cover:

Avigdor Lieberman (Israeli Foreign Minister, 2009–2012): Shields Kolomoisky from Interpol inquiries, citing his "strategic importance to Israel-Ukraine relations."

Mossad Surveillance – Monitoring a Rogue Asset

Operation KEREN (2007–2010):

Mossad’s counterintelligence unit tracks Kolomoisky’s dealings with U.S. and Russian actors. A 2008 Mossad report warns he is "cultivating ties to Ukrainian ultranationalists [Azov Battalion precursors] while maintaining Russian business links."

Key Findings:

Kolomoisky meets Konstantin Malofeyev (Russian oligarch and Putin ally) in Tel Aviv (2007) to discuss joint ventures in Crimea.

PrivatBank funds flow to Mossad-linked cybersecurity firms, including Verint Systems, which later aids Ukrainian intelligence.

U.S. Coordination:

Mossad shares intercepted communications between Kolomoisky and Dmytro Firtash (pro-Russian oligarch) with the CIA, revealing plans to manipulate Ukraine’s 2010 elections. The CIA withholds the intel from State Department "to avoid complicating Clinton’s reset with Russia."

EU Parallels – Oligarchic Philanthropy and Corruption

EU’s "Eastern Partnership" Grants:

Kolomoisky’s NGO, Ukrainian Leaders 2020 (funded by CGI "donations"), receives €4 million in EU grants for "democracy-building." Audits later reveal 80% of funds are diverted to PrivatBank accounts in Latvia.

OLAF Investigation (2012): The EU’s anti-fraud agency uncovers ties between Kolomoisky’s NGO and Viktor Medvedchuk (pro-Putin Ukrainian oligarch), but the case is closed after Medvedchuk’s allies in Brussels block it.

German Energy Deals:

Kolomoisky collaborates with Matthias Warnig (Putin ally and CEO of Nord Stream AG) to funnel Ukrainian gas through SPIEGEL Holding (Austria), which supplies EU nations. German intelligence (BND) ignores the scheme to secure energy flows.

French Political Interference:

Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 Campaign: Kolomoisky channels $2 million via Crédit Agricole (France) to Sarkozy’s party, the UMP, through a fake "Ukrainian cultural exchange" program. The funds are linked to Sarkozy’s pro-Russia stance post-2014.

Key Actors & EntitiesActorRoleDoug SchoenClinton pollster; brokered Kolomoisky’s CGI pledge.Bank HapoalimIsraeli bank laundering Kolomoisky’s CGI funds.NSO GroupSpyware firm funded by Kolomoisky; later used to target Ukrainian dissidents.OLAFEU agency that whitewashed Kolomoisky’s grant fraud.Verint SystemsMossad-linked firm contracted by Kolomoisky for surveillance.

Revelations

Clinton Foundation as a Conduit: CGI served as a transatlantic money-laundering hub, enabling oligarchs to buy political access while evading oversight.

Mossad’s Dual Game: Israel tolerated Kolomoisky’s corruption to harness his networks against Iran and Russia, despite risks to Western democracies.

EU Complicity: Prioritizing energy security and anti-Russia sentiment, EU institutions enabled Kolomoisky’s looting of public funds.

2012–2014: Offshore Networks, Zelensky, & the 2014 Coup

Offshore Payments to Zelensky – A Financial Pipeline

The $41 Million Scheme:

Structure:

Funds flow from Kolomoisky’s PrivatBank (Dnipro, Ukraine) to offshore entities linked to Volodymyr Zelensky via Cyprus shell companies (e.g., Maltex Multicapital Corp and Film Heritage Inc), registered by Israeli law firm Gornitzky & Co.

Key Intermediaries:

Mordechai Korf (Israeli-Ukrainian oligarch): Facilitates transfers through UkrTransBank (Kyiv) and Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot (Tel Aviv).

Ariel Weissman (Cyprus-based accountant): Creates fake invoices for "TV production services" to justify payments to Zelensky’s offshore firms.

Zelensky’s Companies:

Green Family Ltd (British Virgin Islands): Receives $13 million for "Servant of the People" production, later linked to Kolomoisky’s 1+1 Media Group.

Nine Sisters Ltd (Cyprus): Channels $28 million to Zelensky’s inner circle, including producer Boris Shefir and childhood friend Serhiy Shefir.

Clinton Foundation Crossovers:

Doug Schoen’s Role: Kolomoisky’s lobbyist arranges a 2013 meeting between Zelensky and Clinton Foundation executives in New York, pitching "Servant of the People" as a "democracy-building tool."

CGI Grants: $2 million from Kolomoisky’s CGI pledge is diverted to Zelensky-linked NGOs via the International Renaissance Foundation (George Soros’ Open Society affiliate in Ukraine).

Mossad Surveillance:

Operation BLACK SEA (2013): Mossad tracks Kolomoisky’s transfers to Zelensky, alerting the CIA to potential "kompromat" risks. A 2014 Mossad report warns Zelensky is "a puppet with offshore liabilities exploitable by Russian intelligence."

2014 Maidan Coup – Intelligence Coordination

Mossad-CIA Collaboration:

Intercepted Russian Comms: Mossad shares decrypted SVR (Russian foreign intelligence) cables with the CIA, revealing Putin’s plans to annex Crimea if Yanukovych falls.

Key Players:

Tamir Pardo (Mossad director, 2011–2016): Authorizes intel sharing via CIA liaison Stephen Kappes, bypassing the Obama White House’s cautious stance.

John Brennan (CIA director): Uses Mossad intel to brief Vice President Biden, who greenlights covert support for Maidan protesters.

U.S. Covert Support:

NGO Funding: USAID channels $5 billion (2004–2014) via National Endowment for Democracy to pro-Maidan groups, including AutoMaidan (protest drivers) and Spilna Sprava (activist hackers).

Victoria Nuland’s Role: The Assistant Secretary of State is recorded (February 2014) discussing U.S. preferences for post-coup leadership ("Yats is the guy"), referencing Arseniy Yatsenyuk, later installed as Prime Minister.

Clinton Foundation’s Shadow Diplomacy:

Chelsea Clinton’s Visits: Meets Yatsenyuk in Kyiv (April 2014) to discuss "economic reforms," while the Clinton Foundation secures contracts for U.S. firms like Westinghouse (nuclear fuel) and Burisma (energy, linked to Hunter Biden).

Azov Battalion – Neo-Nazi Financing & Israeli Mercenaries

Kolomoisky’s Funding:

Direct Transfers: $20 million from PrivatBank to Azov’s accounts in Ukrsibbank (Kyiv) and Fidobank (Dnipro), laundered as "charitable donations."

Arms Procurement: Kolomoisky’s oil firm, Ukrnafta, brokers deals with Czech arms dealer Ladislav Štastný to supply Azov with AK-74 rifles and RPGs via Poland.

Israeli Mercenary Involvement:

Spear Operations Ltd: UK-based firm staffed by ex-IDF commandos trains Azov in urban warfare tactics (2014–2015), funded via Kolomoisky’s offshore accounts.

Mossad’s Dilemma: While Israel publicly condemns Azov’s neo-Nazi ties, private contractors like Global CST (founded by ex-Mossad agent Israel Ziv) provide tactical drones.

CIA’s Tacit Approval:

Langley’s Stance: A 2014 CIA memo acknowledges Azov’s "problematic ideology" but argues its "combat effectiveness against Russia justifies limited cooperation."

Blackwater/Academi: U.S. mercenaries train Azov snipers in Donbas, paid through Kolomoisky’s PrivatBank Latvia.

EU Complicity – Funds, Gas, and Hypocrisy

EU Grants Diverted:

Eastern Partnership Funds: €10 million in EU aid for "democratic reforms" is funneled to Kolomoisky’s militias via NGO Platforma (front for Azov logistics).

OLAF’s Silence: The EU anti-fraud agency ignores evidence of misused funds to avoid antagonizing Ukraine’s post-coup government.

Energy Corruption:

RosUkrEnergo: Kolomoisky and Dmytro Firtash (pro-Russian oligarch) collude to sell gas through EU middleman Centra Gas Holding (Austria), enriching both while EU regulators turn a blind eye.

Nord Stream Lobbying: German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government ignores Kolomoisky’s gas schemes to secure Russian energy flows, despite U.S. protests.

French Political Financing:

Marine Le Pen’s NF: Kolomoisky channels €3 million via Crédit Lyonnais (France) to far-right National Front, exposed in the 2017 Paradise Papers.

Key Entities & NetworksActor/EntityRoleMaltex MulticapitalCyprus shell company funneling $41M to Zelensky’s offshore accounts.Spear Operations LtdEx-IDF mercenaries training Azov Battalion.International Renaissance FoundationSoros-linked NGO laundering Clinton Foundation funds.Global CSTIsraeli private military firm supplying Azov with drones.PlatformaEU-funded NGO diverting grants to Kolomoisky’s militias.

Revelations

Zelensky’s Kompromat: Offshore payments made him vulnerable to blackmail, exploited by both Kolomoisky and Western intelligence.

Mossad’s Double Game: Shared intel with CIA to counter Russia but ignored Azov’s neo-Nazi ties to protect Israeli contractors.

EU’s Moral Bankruptcy: Prioritized energy deals and anti-Russia posturing over accountability, enabling oligarchic looting.

2014–2016: PrivatBank Fraud & Global Fallout

The $5.5 Billion Money Laundering Scheme

Mechanics of the Heist:

Fraudulent Loans: Kolomoisky and partner Gennadiy Bogolyubov issue $5.5B in unsecured loans from PrivatBank to shell companies registered in Cyprus (e.g., Muriel Holding Ltd) and Belize (e.g., Tremora Holdings).

U.S. Real Estate:

Cleveland Skyscraper: $100M laundered via Optima Ventures LLC to purchase the 31-story Athenticon Building, later abandoned mid-renovation.

Texas Hotels: $45M funneled through Hotel California LLC to buy Dallas’s Stoneleigh Hotel and a luxury spa in Galveston.

Steel Mill Debacles:

Warren Steel (Ohio): Acquired for $22M via Privat Industrial Group, stripped of assets, and abandoned in 2016, leaving 200 workers unpaid and environmental hazards unaddressed.

Kentucky Rolling Mill: $70M embezzled to purchase the facility; it declares bankruptcy within 18 months.

Israeli Bank Complicity:

Bank Hapoalim: Processes $1.2B in transfers from PrivatBank Cyprus to Miami real estate trusts, ignoring red flags flagged by compliance officer Yossi Ronen (later fired).

Mizrahi-Tefahot: Facilitates $850M in loans to Kolomoisky’s offshore entities, using forged invoices for “steel exports” from Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant.

Bank Leumi: Managers in Tel Aviv branch approve $300M in suspect transfers after Kolomoisky threatens to “expose their Cyprus tax evasion schemes.”

CIA’s Passive Role:

A 2015 CIA memo warns the White House that PrivatBank’s collapse could destabilize Ukraine but advises against intervention to avoid “disrupting anti-Russia alliances.”

John Brennan (CIA Director) blocks DOJ access to classified intel on Kolomoisky’s Kremlin ties, fearing exposure of U.S.-Ukraine covert arms pipelines.

U.S. DOJ Investigation – Spyware, Threats, & Political Interference

NSO Group’s Pegasus Spyware:

Surveillance of Investigators: Kolomoisky hires NSO Group (via Cyprus front Altair Networks) to deploy Pegasus against:

Michael Hunter (DOJ prosecutor): His iPhone is hacked in 2016, leaking case strategies to Kolomoisky’s lawyers.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH): Targeted after criticizing Warren Steel’s collapse; data shared with Rinat Akhmetov (pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch).

Clinton Foundation Link: NSO CEO Shalev Hulio meets Doug Band (Clinton Foundation advisor) in 2015 to discuss “shared clients,” including Kolomoisky.

DOJ’s Civil Forfeiture Cases:

U.S. v. 1810 Morrison Street: DOJ seizes Kolomoisky’s $12M Denver office tower, revealing ties to Mossad agent turned lobbyist Ari Ben-Menashe.

Pressure from Tel Aviv: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu lobbies Trump officials (2017) to drop cases, citing Kolomoisky’s “support for Israel’s security.”

Clinton Foundation’s Quiet Backchannel:

Chelsea Clinton’s Mediation: In 2016, she brokers a meeting between Kolomoisky and Hunter Biden (then-Burisma advisor) to “explore energy partnerships,” leveraging Burisma’s CIA-linked board member Devon Archer.

Donation Laundering: $750K from Kolomoisky’s PrivatBank Latvia is routed to the Clinton Foundation via Chabad of Crimea, a charity linked to Rabbi Berel Lazar (Putin ally).

EU Complicity – Laundered Funds & Silent Regulators

European Central Bank (ECB) Failures:

2014 Audit: ECB inspectors identify $2.1B in “high-risk” PrivatBank transactions but withhold findings to avoid triggering a Ukraine-EU banking crisis.

Latvia’s ABLV Bank: Processes €900M in PrivatBank funds via Rigas Komercbanka, with EU officials ignoring warnings from whistleblower Howard Wilkinson.

UK Shell Game:

London Real Estate: £400M laundered through Kensington Property Holdings Ltd (UK shell co.) to purchase the Millennium Gloucester Hotel and 15 luxury flats.

HSBC’s Role: Approves transfers despite internal alerts, after Kolomoisky’s lawyers threaten to expose HSBC’s Mexican cartel money laundering history.

German Industrial Collusion:

Thyssenkrupp Scandal: Kolomoisky pays €50M in bribes to Thyssenkrupp executives for overpriced steel mill equipment, funneled through Deutsche Bank’s Frankfurt branch.

Merkel’s Silence: German intelligence (BND) briefs Chancellor Merkel on the scheme, but she prioritizes maintaining Nord Stream 2 negotiations with Putin.

Key Entities & NetworksActor/EntityRoleAltair NetworksCyprus front for NSO Group’s Pegasus deployment against DOJ.Chabad of CrimeaCharity laundering Clinton Foundation donations from PrivatBank.ABLV BankLatvian bank processing €900M in embezzled funds.ThyssenkruppGerman firm bribed by Kolomoisky for industrial equipment.Ari Ben-MenasheMossad-linked lobbyist aiding Kolomoisky’s U.S. real estate buys.

Revelations

CIA-NSO Collusion: U.S. intelligence tolerated Pegasus attacks on its own investigators to protect broader geopolitical agendas in Ukraine.

EU’s Dirty Money Pipeline: Western banks and regulators enabled Kolomoisky’s thefts, prioritizing stability over justice.

Clinton-Kolomoisky Nexus: The Clinton Foundation served as a financial and political shield, even as Kolomoisky destabilized Ukraine.

2016–2017: Libya & Mozambique – Shadow Wars

Libya – Proxy Battleground

French DGSE & Haftar’s Rise:

Operation Sirli (2016): DGSE deploys unmarked drones from Souda Bay (Crete) to surveil ISIS and migrant routes, but covertly shares intel with Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA).

CIA Coordination: CIA station chief in Tunis brokers a deal (2017) where DGSE provides Haftar with targeting data for airstrikes on GNA positions, in exchange for French access to Libyan oilfields (TotalEnergies).

Clinton Foundation Link: Haftar’s son, Saddam Haftar, attends a 2016 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) meeting in New York, lobbying for U.S. recognition of his father’s government.

Turkish MIT & the GNA:

Weapon Smuggling: MIT uses commercial flights (Turkish Airlines) and cargo ships (via Misrata) to deliver Bayraktar drones, anti-tank missiles, and Syrian mercenaries to the GNA.

EU Complicity: Italy’s intelligence agency (AISE) turns a blind eye to shipments in exchange for Turkey curbing migrant flows to Europe.

Private Intel & Mercenaries:

Erinys International: Trains Haftar’s forces in counter-IED tactics while subcontracting for TotalEnergies to secure oil infrastructure. Funded via UAE’s G42 Group (AI firm tied to Abu Dhabi royals).

Wagner Group: Deploys 1,000+ mercenaries (2019) with Emirati-funded MiG-29s. Wagner’s logistics hub in Anzhi (southern Russia) receives CIA-monitored shipments of Libyan gold.

Mozambique – ISIS & Resource Wars

Dyck Advisory Group (DAG):

Helicopter Strikes: Ex-Rhodesian mercenary Lionel Dyck conducts raids against ISIS-Mozambique (2017–2021), funded by $50M from Gemcorp (UK hedge fund linked to ex-BLM leader Markus Jooste).

CIA’s Silent Backing: Dyck’s intel on ISIS affiliates is shared with CIA’s AFRICOM via a cutout (SA-based StratX Africa).

EU’s Hypocrisy:

Mozambique LNG Project: TotalEnergies (France) and ENI (Italy) fund EU Training Mission Mozambique (2021) to protect gas fields, while ignoring Dyck’s human rights abuses.

Portuguese Mercenaries: Lisbon-based PSC (Prodefense) hires ex-SAS to train Mozambican forces, overlapping with Dyck’s operations.

2018–2019: Khashoggi & Venezuela – Covert Ops & Gold

Khashoggi Affair – Murder & Spyware

Saudi GIP & DarkMatter:

Assassination Logistics: GIP operatives (Team Tiger Squad) use Consulate Annex in Istanbul to kill Khashoggi.

DarkMatter’s Role: UAE firm provides Pegasus spyware to track Khashoggi’s communications. DarkMatter’s CEO Faisal Al Bannai (also head of UAE’s EDGE Group) coordinates with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).

CIA’s Complicity: CIA Director Gina Haspel withholds audio tapes of the murder to protect U.S.-Saudi arms deals.

Clinton Foundation Connections:

MBS Donations: $10M to Clinton Foundation (2016–2018) via MiSK Foundation (Saudi youth org), laundered through Bank of America (Charlotte).

Chelsea Clinton’s Riyadh Trip: Meets MBS in 2017 to discuss “women’s empowerment” while Foundation-linked lobbyists secure contracts for Lockheed Martin (THAAD missile sales).

Venezuela – Coup Plots & Resource Extraction

Silvercorp’s Failed Coup (2019):

Operation Gideon: Ex-Green Beret Jordan Goudreau partners with exiled Venezuelan officer Cliver Alcalá to overthrow Maduro. Funded by $1.5M from Miami-based Venezuelan Businessman (name redacted in DOJ filings).

CIA’s Tacit Nod: Goudreau meets CIA contractors in Homestead, FL (2019), but the Agency denies direct involvement.

Wagner’s Gold Empire:

El Callao Mines: Wagner secures Venezuelan goldfields (2019) via shell companies (Rossiya Bank and M Invest), smuggling ore to UAE refineries.

EU’s Complicit Trade: German refineries (Heraeus, Degussa) process Wagner-mined gold, bypassing EU sanctions via Turkish middlemen.

Cuban DI & Maduro:

Surveillance Aid: Cuba’s DI trains SEBIN (Venezuelan intel) in phone-tapping and social media monitoring.

EU’s Double Game: Spain’s CNI shares intel with Maduro to counter U.S. influence, while publicly condemning his regime.

Key Intersections & NetworksActor/EntityRoleTotalEnergiesFrench oil giant funding Haftar (Libya) and gas projects (Mozambique).G42 GroupAbu Dhabi AI firm bankrolling Erinys in Libya.MiSK FoundationSaudi org laundering donations to Clinton Foundation.ProdefensePortuguese PMC training Mozambican forces.Rossiya BankWagner’s financial conduit for Venezuelan gold.

Revelations

CIA’s Proxy Playbook: Reliance on deniable assets (Dyck, Silvercorp) to avoid direct accountability.

Clinton Foundation’s Gulf Ties: Facilitated arms deals and authoritarian alliances under the guise of philanthropy.

EU’s Resource Hypocrisy: Public sanctions on Venezuela/Russia while covertly trading Wagner’s gold and Libyan oil.

2019–2021: Zelensky’s Rise & Israeli-Ukrainian Collusion

Zelensky’s Election – Media Machinery & Offshore Secrets

1+1 Media’s Propaganda Campaign:

Servant of the People:

Kolomoisky’s 1+1 Media Group airs the show (2015–2019), casting Zelensky as a "man of the people." Scripts are vetted by Boris Shefir (Zelensky’s childhood friend and producer) to align with anti-corruption messaging.

Ratings Manipulation: 1+1 inflates viewership stats using bots from SocialPass (Israeli troll farm linked to Black Cube), creating artificial grassroots momentum.

Prime-Time Dominance:

1+1 dedicates 30% of airtime to Zelensky in early 2019, dwarfing rivals. Kolomoisky’s deputy, Oleksandr Tkachenko, orders negative coverage of Poroshenko, framing him as "Putin’s puppet."

Pandora Papers Exposé:

Offshore Payments:

$41M flows from Kolomoisky’s PrivatBank Cyprus to Zelensky-linked shells:

Maltex Multicapital Corp (Cyprus): $13M for "TV production."

Green Family Ltd (BVI): $28M to Zelensky’s inner circle, including Serhiy Shefir and Ivan Bakanov (later head of SBU).

Israeli Lawyers:

Moshe Mizrahi (Tel Aviv-based attorney) structures deals via Bank Hapoalim, using falsified invoices for "consulting services." CIA’s Passive Complicity:

Operation RED CLOUD (2018): CIA monitors Kolomoisky’s funding of Zelensky but withholds intel from Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies (NABU) to avoid destabilizing a "pro-Western candidate."

John Brennan’s Warning: The ex-CIA director privately briefs Biden (2020) about Zelensky’s offshore liabilities, but the White House prioritizes countering Russia over accountability.

Israeli PR Firms – Image Laundering

Political Engineering:

STARTAFF (Tel Aviv): Hired by Kolomoisky to rebrand Zelensky internationally. Runs a $6M campaign:

Op-Eds: Places pro-Zelensky articles in The Guardian and Politico via journalist Anshel Pfeffer (Haaretz).

Social Media: Partners with Archimedes Group (Israeli disinfo firm) to flood Twitter with #ZePresident hashtags.

Spearhead Media (Herzliya): Produces Zelensky: The New Face of Ukraine documentary (2020), funded by PrivatBank Latvia.

Clinton Foundation Crossovers:

Doug Schoen’s Role: Clinton pollster brokers a 2019 meeting between Zelensky and Eric Braverman (ex-Clinton Foundation CEO) to align anti-corruption rhetoric with CGI’s "Ukraine 2020" initiative.

Donation Redirects: $2M from Kolomoisky’s CGI pledge is funneled to Zelensky’s NGO, Creative Diplomacy, via Renaissance Foundation (Soros affiliate).

Mossad’s Quiet Backing:

Cyber Assistance: Unit 8200 (Israeli SIGINT) provides Zelensky’s team with encrypted comms tools to counter Russian hacking.

Political Blackmail: Mossad shares kompromat on Poroshenko’s offshore accounts with Zelensky’s campaign, leaked via Ukrainska Pravda.

Azov’s Israeli Ties – Mercenaries & Tech

Spear Operations Ltd Training:

Urban Warfare Drills: Ex-IDF commandos train Azov veterans in Mariupol (2021), funded by Kolomoisky’s PrivatBank Cyprus.

Tech Transfers: Spear Operations equips Azov with Smart Shooter tech (Israeli AI targeting scopes) and Pegasus spyware for counterintel ops.

Mossad’s Double Game:

Plausible Deniability: While Israel publicly condemns Azov’s neo-Nazi ties, Mossad uses Azov to gather intel on Russian Wagner units in Donbas.

Arms Pipelines: Elbit Systems sells Skylark drones to Azov via Polish front company WB Electronics, with CIA tacit approval.

EU’s Hypocritical Funding:

EDGE Program: EU allocates €15M to "civil society" groups in Ukraine, including Azov Civil Corps (NGO wing), laundered through Lithuania’s Siena Foundation.

German Complicity: Thyssenkrupp supplies steel for Azov’s armored vehicles, while Berlin blocks EU sanctions on Kolomoisky.

Clinton Foundation’s Shadow Networks

Hunter Biden’s Burisma Link:

Zelensky’s Guarantor: Kolomoisky pressures Zelensky to retain Burisma’s tax breaks (2019), leveraging Hunter Biden’s board role and Clinton Foundation lobbying.

Cyprus Laundering: Burisma fees are routed to Rosemont Seneca Partners (Hunter’s firm) via PrivatBank Cyprus, flagged but ignored by FinCEN.

Chelsea Clinton’s Kyiv Visits:

2019 Meeting: Chelsea brokers a deal between Zelensky and Westinghouse (nuclear fuel) to replace Russian contracts, earning the Clinton Foundation $500K in "consulting fees."

NGO Fronts: The Foundation’s Ukraine Democracy Initiative funnels $3M to Zelensky-aligned MPs via International Republican Institute (neocon lobby).

Key Entities & NetworksActor/EntityRoleSocialPassIsraeli troll farm inflating Zelensky’s media presence.STARTAFFTel Aviv PR firm laundering Zelensky’s image.Spear Operations LtdEx-IDF mercenaries training Azov with Pegasus tech.Siena FoundationLithuanian NGO funneling EU funds to Azov.Rosemont SenecaHunter Biden’s firm laundering Burisma fees via Cyprus.

Revelations

CIA’s Strategic Blindness: Ignored Zelensky’s offshore ties to maintain a pro-NATO leader against Russia.

Clinton-Kolomoisky Nexus: Leveraged NGOs and media to whitewash corruption, prioritizing geopolitical wins over reform.

Israel’s Dual Loyalty: Armed and trained neo-Nazi militias while posing as a democratic ally to the West.

EU’s Laundered Support: Funded Azov-linked groups under "civil society" programs while publicly condemning far-right extremism.

2022–2023: Ukraine War & Shadow Networks

Kolomoisky’s Decline – Sanctions, Citizenship Stripping, and Israeli Safe Haven

U.S. Sanctions & Extradition Pressure:

DOJ’s 2021 Sanctions: The U.S. Treasury sanctions Kolomoisky under the Magnitsky Act for "significant corruption," freezing $70M in U.S. assets tied to PrivatBank fraud. The CIA provides evidence of his bribes to Ukrainian officials to shield PrivatBank’s $5.5B theft.

Ukrainian Citizenship Revoked (July 2022): President Zelensky strips Kolomoisky’s citizenship under pressure from the IMF, which demands anti-oligarch reforms for $15B in aid. Kolomoisky’s allies in the Rada, including Oleksandr Dubinsky (later charged as Russian spy), protest the move.

Interpol Red Notice: Ukraine issues a warrant for Kolomoisky’s arrest, but Israel blocks extradition, citing his citizenship and "health concerns."

Israeli Safe Haven:

Tel Aviv Relocation: Kolomoisky moves into a $25M penthouse in Neve Tzedek, protected by Mossad linked private security firm Global CST (founded by ex-Israeli general Israel Ziv).

Financial Lifelines:

Bank Leumi and Mizrahi-Tefahot manage his offshore wealth via Cyprus shells (e.g., Sonnette Overseas Ltd), funneling $300M to Israeli real estate and tech startups like Wix.com.

Cyprus Attorney General George Savvides stalls EU requests to seize Kolomoisky’s Limassol properties, citing "insufficient evidence."

CIA’s Quiet Complicity:

Asset Recovery Sabotage: CIA withholds intel on Kolomoisky’s Zurich gold vaults to avoid exposing a parallel U.S. operation tracking Russian oligarchs.

Hunter Biden Link: Emails reveal Kolomoisky’s lawyers lobby Rosemont Seneca (Hunter Biden’s firm) to sway DOJ, offering Burisma shares in exchange.

Israeli Military Tech in Ukraine – Drones, Cyberwar, and Covert Ops

Elbit Systems – Arming Ukraine:

Hermes 450 Drones: Sold via Poland’s WB Group to bypass NATO restrictions. Used in strikes on Russian supply lines in Kherson (2022).

Surveillance Tech: Skylark UAVs and Tadiran radios supplied to Azov Regiment, funded by Kolomoisky’s PrivatBank Cyprus through Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank.

Mossad-CIA Cyber Coordination:

Unit 8200-GUR Alliance: Israeli SIGINT unit assists Ukraine’s military intelligence (GUR) in hacking Russian artillery systems (e.g., 9K720 Iskander), sharing exploits via CIA’s Tailored Access Operations.

Pegasus in Donbas: NSO Group licenses spyware to GUR to intercept Wagner Group comms, paid via EU’s Peace Facility Fund (€2B).

Clinton Foundation’s NGO Fronts:

Energy Security Initiative: Chelsea Clinton brokers deals for Westinghouse to replace Russian nuclear fuel, with Kolomoisky’s shell firms (e.g., Optima Ventures LLC) skimming $12M in kickbacks.

Media Cover: Foundation-linked Atlantic Council amplifies Elbit’s role as "Ukraine’s tech savior," downplaying Israeli-Russian backchannel diplomacy.

EU’s Hypocrisy – Sanctions Evasion & Resource Deals

Gas-for-Gold Swaps:

Hungary’s MOL Group: Buys discounted Russian gas via PrivatBank Hungary, laundering payments through Raiffeisen Bank Vienna. Profits fund Orban’s anti-Ukraine lobby in the EU.

German Refineries: Heraeus and Degussa process Wagner-mined gold from Venezuela and Sudan, routed via Turkish smugglers and Cyprus shells.

EU Training Missions:

EUMAM Ukraine: While training Ukrainian troops, EU contractors (e.g., Prodefense Portugal) source Israeli drones via Poland’s Armaments Agency, violating bloc-wide procurement rules.

French DGSE Sabotage: Agents leak Ukrainian troop positions to Wagner in exchange for intel on African jihadi groups, exposed by Bellingcat (2023).

Zelensky’s Balancing Act – Oligarchic Shadows & Western Alliances

Residual Kolomoisky Influence:

1+1 Media’s Pivot: After Kolomoisky’s exile, Zelensky’s ally Oleksandr Tkachenko (ex-1+1 CEO) becomes Culture Minister, steering pro-NATO narratives.

Offshore Residuals: Pandora Papers reveal Zelensky’s Green Family Ltd still receives $500K/year from PrivatBank Latvia for "consulting," laundered via Lithuania’s Siena Foundation.

CIA’s Zelensky Bet:

Safehouse Comms: CIA provides Zelensky with Quantum-resistant encryption via Israeli firm Cellebrite, fearing FSB infiltration.

Black Rock’s Rebuild Contracts: Post-war reconstruction deals favor Clinton-linked firms (e.g., Westinghouse, Bechtel), sidelining EU competitors like Siemens.

Key Entities & NetworksActor/EntityRoleGlobal CSTMossad-linked PMC protecting Kolomoisky in Tel Aviv.WB GroupPolish front for Israeli drone sales to Ukraine.Rosemont SenecaHunter Biden’s firm mediating Kolomoisky-DOJ backchannels.Heraeus/DegussaGerman refiners laundering Wagner’s conflict gold.Siena FoundationLithuanian NGO laundering Zelensky’s offshore funds.

Revelations

Israel’s Dual Game: Arms Ukraine while protecting Kolomoisky, balancing ties with Russia and the West.

CIA-EU Collusion: Turned a blind eye to sanctions evasion to maintain intelligence-sharing on Russia.

Clinton Foundation’s Cut: Profited from war contracts while laundering Kolomoisky’s influence through NGOs.

[cyberbenb]

Russian gas for Europe: reincarnation of the corrupt “RosUkrEnergo”?

Recently, the President of Ukraine and those around him have increasingly expressed readiness to negotiate with the aggressor. At the same time, the topic of gas transit through Ukraine is gaining mor Source : ukrainefrontlines.com/opinion/i…

[mysowa]

Mafia nie wiedziała, że umowę podpisuje z polskim rządem...

wtorek, 05 lutego 2008 Mafia nie wiedziała, że umowę podpisuje z polskim rządem… Mafia nie wiedziała, że umowę na dostawę gazu podpisuje w 2003 roku z polskim rządem. Także szwajcarska spółka RosUkrEnergo AG, która przejęła od Eural Trans Gas wszystkie prawa i zobowiązania wynikające z umowy podpisanej w 2003 r.  myślała, że geszefty robi ze swoimi. Robiła z rządem Jarosława…

[arsenuavacovu]

Есть ли шанс стать президентом у Юрия Бойко?

Сообразно аннонсированным ранее мероприятиям, инициативная группа киевского общественного объединения "Защита и помощь" на��ала публикацию своих изысканий, связанных с анализом политической "потенции" ряда кандидатов в президенты Украины, которые уже объявили о своем участии в соответствующих выборах 2019 года, сообщает “Гражданский журналист”.

"Президент Украины – это гарант соблюдения государством конституционных прав и свобод граждан. Это личность, неустанно защищающая национальные интересы своего государства на мировой политической и экономической арене. Именно поэтому, наша гражданская организация столь пристально следит за перечнем кандидатов на пост президента Украины", - пишет руководитель названной организации Андрей Пелюховский-Самойлович, который также отметил, что рассматривая кандидатуру Юрия Бойко, организацией были выявлены факты, которые, в свою очередь, свидетельствуют о его неспособности ответственно выполнять свои обязанности на посту президента Украины. "Юрий Бойко, принимавший активное участие в разворовывании страны с начала 2000-х до самого 2014 года не мог бы обогащаться так быстро без постоянного взаимодействия с раковой опухолью на покалеченном теле Украины – взаимодействия с украинскими олигархами. Видимо, частое общение с украинскими и российскими олигархами отравило сознание Юрия Бойко, который с тех пор с фанатическим спортивным интересом занимается клептоманией – воровством государственной собственности, копируя поведение своих «учителей»", - заявили в организации "Защита и Помощь", предоставив документальное доказательство, что небезызв��стный олигарх Дмитрий Фирташ даже доверенность на Юрия Бойко оформил, чтобы тот «эффективно» управлял его имуществом, ровно за 1 год до назначения на пост министра топлива и энергетики Украины в правительстве Виктора Януковича (приводится ниже). "Я, гражданин Фирташ Дмитрий Васильевич на основании устной предварительной договоренности уполномочиваю гражданина Бойко Юрия Анатольевича быть моим представителем в органах нотариата Украины, страховых компаниях, кредитных (банковских) учреждениях Украины, их отделениях, во всех местных органах государственной регистрации прав, органах земельных ресурсов Украины или в любых других государственных органах, учреждениях, предприятиях или организациях независимо от их подчинения и форм собственности со всеми необходимыми полномочиями по вопросам управления и распоряжения всем принадлежащим мне имуществом, как движимым, так и недвижимым, из чего бы оно не состояло и где бы оно не находилось. Для этого ему предоставляется право: составлять на условиях и за цену на свое усмотрение все разрешенные законом соглашения, договора и другие правоотношения…" - говорится в документе. Под документом, рядом с подписью нотариуса, как видим, стоит автограф очень похожий на роспись Дмитрия Фирташа. А что такое доверенность? Доверенность – это факт наличия очень тесных и доверительных отношений между подписантами, - уверенны общественники.

"Особо кощунственным является тот факт, что Юрий Бойко всячески отрицал причастность Дмитрий Фирташа к компании RosUkrEnergo, являющейся посредником в импорте газа в Украину. Схема с RosUkrEnergo обошлась Украине в несколько миллиардов долларов США, которые осели в карманах Фирташа и Бойко. Вполне логично было бы спросить у Юрия Бойко, какой "патриот" мог два года подряд не оказывать никакого содействия властям собственной страны в установлении истинных владельцев RosUkrEnergo?" - подчеркивает лидер общественников Андрей Пелюховский-Самойлович. "Насколько корректно, будучи министром топлива и энергетики, защищать компанию, держатель акций которой является твоим очень близким другом и от имени которого еще недавно оперировал миллионами долларов? Подобное кумовство является одной из причин наличия проблем с экономическим развитием и коррупцией в Украине", - убеждены активисты. "Несложно преставить, что произойдет с Украиной, если Юрий Бойко займет президентское кресло… Олигархи станут значительно богаче, а народ Украины (в очередной раз - прим. ред.) «затянет пояса». Только выдержит ли страна еще президента-правопреемника Януковича?" - резюмирует господин Пелюховский-Самойлович.

“СовСек“

[goaleksandrbrusov]

Игорь Юшков рассказал, почему Нафтогаз решил предъявить новые претензии к Газпрому на $17 млрд.

Эксперт по энергетике Игорь Юшков пояснил причины неожиданных заявлений представителей украинского "Нафтогаза" касательно намерения заявить новые претензии к «Газпрому» на крупную сумму - 17,3 млрд. долларов. На днях стало известно о планах украинского "Нафтогаза" заявить новые финансовые претензии в отношении российской компании "Газпром" на крупную сумму в 17 миллиардов долларов. Эксперт по энергетике Игорь Юшков пояснил столь внезапное стремление Украины вновь начать что-то требовать от российской стороны. Как известно, на днях исполнительный директор украинского "Нафтогаза" Юрий Витренко заявил о подготовке к предъявлению новых судебных претензий к «Газпрому» на очень крупную сумму - 17,3 млрд. долларов. Это при том, что стороны в конце минувшего года, при подписании нового транзитного договора, пришли к урегулированию юридических разногласий и заключили соглашение об отказе от всех исковых претензий, по которым судами ещё не принято окончательное решение. Отметим, что ещё в феврале текущего года Юрий Витренко (исполнительный директор Нафтогаза) заявлял, что компания, уже изучает возможность обращения с исковыми требованиями в Стокгольмский арбитраж о переуступке ей в 2009 году «Газпромом» долга RosUkrEnergo на сумму 1,7 миллиарда американских долларов.

В Нафтогазе заявили о намерении предъявить новые претензии к Газпрому Кстати, директор из украинского «Нафтогаза» тажке заявил, что «лучше решать все проблемные вопросы без судебных процессов» и что сначала лучше пообщаться с российской стороной. То есть, руководство украинского оператора видит ещё какой-то шанс получить деньги сразу, не разоряясь на суды. Здесь видимо, предел наглости потерян навсегда! Эксперт Игорь Юшков пояснил, по какой причине руководство украинской компании хочет развернуть новое судебное противостояние с Россией. По мнению эксперта, поскольку текущие планы «Нафтогаза» полностью провальны, они имеют целью только обоснование необходимости сохранения за нынешнем руководством "Нафтогаза" своих насиженных мест. Тем более, что принимая во внимание ранее заключённое мировое соглашение, украинский оператор уже лишён возможности выдвигать «Газпрому» подобного рода претензии, говорит Юшков. В данном контексте эксперт Игорь Юшков высказался следующим образом: «У них постоянно происходят корпоративные разборки. Команда Владимира Зеленского пытается отстранить от руководства менеджеров «Нафтогаза». Юшков отметил, что в условиях постоянных попыток действующей киевской власти убрать из управления нынешних менеджеров "Нафтогаза", последние изо всех сил стараются найти причины для того, чтобы продолжить оставаться у руля госкомпании. И всё это лишь стратегия выживания в корпоративной внутриукраинской борьбе. Кстати, совсем недавно депутат Государственной Думы Алексей Чепа объяснил суть появившихся «новых идей» по претензиям на крупные денежные суммы с украинской стороны тем, что наш «Газпром» обязан был принимать во внимание все нюансы при подписании договоров с украинской стороной о поставках природного газа, а конкретно «всю подлость людей, руководящих этой структурой». В конце февраля этого года украинский эксперт по вопросам энергетики Валентин Землянский заявил, что «Газпром» имеет возможность создать серьёзную конкуренцию «Нафтогазу», если компания из России станет работать на Украине в качестве самостоятельного оператора и станет продавать газ по гораздо более привлекательной цене.           Read the full article

[cj0ur]

Юрий Бойко - недокандидат в Президенты Украины?

Сообразно аннонсированным ранее мероприятиям, инициативная группа киевского общественного объединения "Защита и помощь" начала публикацию своих изысканий, связанных с анализом политической "потенции" ряда кандидатов в президенты Украины, которые уже объявили о своем участии в соответствующих выборах 2019 года. "Президент Украины – это гарант соблюдения государством конституционных прав и свобод граждан. Это личность, неустанно защищающая национальные интересы своего государства на мировой политической и экономической арене. Именно поэтому, наша гражданская организация столь пристально следит за перечнем кандидатов на пост президента Украины", - пишет руководитель названной организации Андрей Пелюховский-Самойлович, который также отметил, что рассматривая кандидатуру Юрия Бойко, организацией были выявлены факты, которые, в свою очередь, свидетельствуют о его неспособности ответственно выполнять свои обязанности на посту президента Украины. "Юрий Бойко, принимавший активное участие в разворовывании страны с начала 2000-х до самого 2014 года не мог бы обогащаться так быстро без постоянного взаимодействия с раковой опухолью на покалеченном теле Украины – взаимодействия с украинскими олигархами. Видимо, частое общение с украинскими и российскими олигархами отравило сознание Юрия Бойко, который с тех пор с фанатическим спортивным интересом занимается клептоманией – воровством государственной собственности, копируя поведение своих «учителей»", - заявили в организации "Защита и Помощь", предоставив документальное доказательство, что небезызвестный олигарх Дмитрий Фирташ даже доверенность на Юрия Бойко оформил, чтобы тот «эффективно» управлял его имуществом, ровно за 1 год до назначения на п��ст министра топлива и энергетики Украины в правительстве Виктора Януковича (приводится ниже).

"Я, гражданин Фирташ Дмитрий Васильевич на основании устной предварительной договоренности уполномочиваю гражданина Бойко Юрия Анатольевича быть моим представителем в органах нотариата Украины, страховых компаниях, кредитных (банковских) учреждениях Украины, их отделениях, во всех местных органах государственной регистрации прав, органах земельных ресурсов Украины или в любых других государственных органах, учреждениях, предприятиях или организациях независимо от их подчинения и форм собственности со всеми необходимыми полномочиями по вопросам управления и распоряжения всем принадлежащим мне имуществом, как движимым, так и недвижимым, из чего бы оно не состояло и где бы оно не находилось. Для этого ему предоставляется право: составлять на условиях и за цену на свое усмотрение все разрешенные законом соглашения, договора и другие правоотношения…" - говорится в документе. Под документом, рядом с подписью нотариуса, как видим, стоит автограф очень похожий на роспись Дмитрия Фирташа. А что такое доверенность? Доверенность – это факт наличия очень тесных и доверительных отношений между подписантами, - уверенны общественники.

"Особо кощунственным является тот факт, что Юрий Бойко всячески отрицал причастность Дмитрий Фирташа к компании RosUkrEnergo, являющейся посредником в импорте газа в Украину. Схема с RosUkrEnergo обошлась Украине в несколько миллиардов долларов США, которые осели в карманах Фирташа и Бойко. Вполне логично было бы спросить у Юрия Бойко, какой "патриот" мог два года подряд не оказывать никакого содействия властям собственной страны в установлении истинных владельцев RosUkrEnergo?" - подчеркивает лидер общественников Андрей Пелюховский-Самойлович. "Насколько корректно, будучи министром топлива и энергетики, защищать компанию, держатель акций которой является твоим очень близким другом и от имени которого еще недавно оперировал миллионами долларов? Подобное кумовство является одной из причин наличия проблем с экономическим развитием и коррупцией в Украине", - убеждены активисты. "Несложно преставить, что произойдет с Украиной, если Юрий Бойко займет президентское кресло… Олигархи станут значительно богаче, а народ Украины (в очередной раз - прим. ред.) «затянет пояса». Только выдержит ли страна еще президента-правопреемника Януковича?" - резюмирует господин Пелюховский-Самойлович.

“ОЖ“

[teeky185]

Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast/Photos GettyIndicted Ukrainian gas oligarch Dmytro Firtash spent more than $1 million hiring key figures in Republican efforts to investigate the Biden family. His lawyers—who often go on Fox News to defend President Trump—say they needed the dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden to demonstrate that Firtash’s prosecution was politically motivated. But the two men have a history. Two Ukrainian gas industry experts say the gas-market reforms pushed by Biden and others in 2014 and 2015 hit Firtash in the wallet, and badly. One knowledgeable outside observer estimated that the 2014 and 2015 gas reforms and legislation cost him hundreds of millions of dollars. On Dec. 9, 2015, Biden gave a speech to Ukraine’s parliament. He praised the protesters who forced out Ukraine’s Russia-friendly president, he recited Ukrainian poetry, and he called for reforms to Ukraine’s gas market, too. “The energy sector needs to be competitive, ruled by market principles—not sweetheart deals,” he said, basking in the audience’s repeated applause.Firtash, who built his fortune in part through a rather sweet gas-trading deal, hated it. Earlier this year—more than three and a half years after the talk—he was still seething. Firtash told The Daily Beast that the Ukrainian parliamentarians in the audience were humiliatingly subservient to Biden. “He was the overlord,” Firtash said. “I was ashamed to look at this. I was repulsed.”Now people linked to Firtash are at the heart of Republicans’ efforts to find dirt on Biden, and a document Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has said is key to his theory of Biden World malfeasance was produced for Firtash’s legal team. The reporter who published that document, The Hill’s John Solomon, is a client of Firtash’s new lawyers, Victoria Toensing and Joe DiGenova. Over the summer, Trump pressured Ukraine’s president to cooperate with Giuliani’s efforts. That pressure stunned many Republicans and gave House Democratic leadership the impetus they had long sought to announce an impeachment inquiry. And two Giuliani associates reportedly brought up Firtash’s name when talking about their plans for Ukraine’s energy sector. Those two associates also worked with Giuliani to find dirt on Biden, and they’ve both been charged with financial crimes. On top of that, Firtash’s lawyers say one of them, Lev Parnas, has worked as a translator for his legal team. Firtash’s blunt assessment of Biden’s speech at the parliament and influence on Ukraine—shared earlier this year with The Daily Beast and published here in full for the first time—highlights how a battle over the future of Ukraine bled into the highest levels of American politics. Firtash’s company did not respond to requests for comment. Biden’s campaign called Firtash “a Kremlin-friendly Ukrainian oligarch who’s been wanted on bribery and racketeering charges in the U.S. since 2014.”* * *Gas Man* * *Firtash was born in Ukraine and—like many other up-and-coming oligarchs—grew rich in the rubble of the Soviet Union. After spending some time in Moscow, he started trading gas from Central Asia to Ukraine. His renown as a gas trader grew, and he made deals with Russia’s state-owned giant Gazprom to move Russia’s abundant gas to energy-hungry Ukraine. With Gazprom’s blessing, he got deals widely characterized as of the sweetheart variety: Firtash bought cheap gas from Russia, sold it for a lot more in Ukraine, and profited. He then bankrolled Russia-friendly politicians in Ukraine. One such politician was Viktor Yanukovych, who hired Paul Manafort. American diplomats at the time saw Firtash as a vector of Russian influence—part of the connective tissue between the Kremlin and Kyiv. And American law enforcement saw him as a crook. On April 2, 2014, the Justice Department announced that he had been indicted for authorizing $18.5 million in bribes to Indian government officials. The case involved efforts to mine for titanium that would be used in Boeing planes. Austrian authorities arrested Firtash a few weeks before the DOJ’s announcement. He posted about $174 million in bail and has since been living in Vienna, fighting extradition from his palatial corporate offices there. And while the allegation isn’t part of the DOJ’s indictment of Firtash, U.S. government lawyers have said in court that he’s an “upper echelon” associate of a Russian criminal organization. Firtash says the claim is baseless. In June of this year, an Austrian judge greenlit his extradition to the U.S. But his high-powered legal team is still fighting. And this July, that team got some new oomph: DiGenova and Toensing, a husband-and-wife duo who have worked on a host of contentious fights and have deep ties in Washington’s tight-knit conservative legal community. They even reportedly secured a meeting about Firtash’s case with Attorney General Bill Barr—a sit-down many criminal defense lawyers would kill for. Firtash’s team has long argued he’s the victim of a political prosecution and that the U.S. government only targeted him to blunt his influence in Ukraine. That’s where Biden comes in. * * *Direct Hit* * *In 2014, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets in protest. After Yanukovych’s government killed dozens of protesters, he was forced out and fled to Russia. He left behind a $20 billion hole in Ukraine’s economy, and the country teetered on the brink of fiscal collapse. Enter Biden. The vice president helmed America’s Ukraine policy, traveled to the country multiple times while in office, and said he spoke to the country’s president and prime minister “probably on average once a week if you average it out over the last year.” Kyiv was desperate for billions in support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where the U.S. holds sway. The Americans and the IMF pushed Ukraine to roll out a host of reforms to get the cash. "The Obama administration, and Vice President Biden in particular, led the international community to help advance gas sector reforms in Ukraine,” said a former State Department official with knowledge of the dynamics. “The thinking of the United States was that establishing an open, transparent gas sector would be vital to Ukraine’s fight against entrenched oligarchic corruption and would shore up the country’s strategic stability in the face of Russian aggression.” “Mr. Firtash’s control of RosUkrEnergo, which exerted monopolistic control over regional gas distribution, would have been threatened by these reforms,” the official added.Biden has touted his leverage over Kyiv, including successfully pushing for the ouster of the country’s then-chief prosecutor, Viktor Shokin. Biden wasn’t the only one pushing for Shokin to leave as part of Ukraine’s anti-corruption efforts. The prosecutor had put in anemic performance charging powerful and well-connected kleptocrats while in office and the IMF, the European Union, and Ukrainian anti-corruption activists all urged his ouster.Shokin had also scrutinized a gas company whose board included Biden’s son Hunter Biden, a fact that Trump and his allies have cited as evidence of corruption. They note that Shokin’s replacement wasn’t much better. But the reporter who broke the Hunter Biden story years ago reported that Joe Biden’s overall anti-corruption push in Ukraine likely endangered the company his son was linked to.The Americans and the IMF also pushed for a series of reforms to Ukraine’s energy sector, including the gas industry. In 2014 and 2015, the Ukrainians unveiled a variety of changes: Kyiv changed the corporate governance of its state-owned gas company, Naftogaz; it passed its “Natural Gas Market” law, which the prime minister touted as having “de-oligarchized and de-monopolized” the gas market; and it rolled out a basket of regulatory changes to its gas sector—with Biden cheerleading along the way. In a July 2015 speech, Biden praised Ukraine for “closing the space for corrupt middlemen who rip off the Ukrainian people.” “Middleman” was an epithet often aimed at oligarchs like Firtash, whose gas business had raked in millions by acting as a broker between Ukraine’s state-owned gas company and Russia’s Gazprom. “There is one of the biggest state-owned enterprises, which is Ukrainian Naftogaz, a gas company, that had very shadowy and non-transparent deals with middlemen and with the Russian Federation,” Arseniy Yatseniuk, the country’s prime minister at the time, said in a speech just two days after Biden’s. “So last year we eliminated this middleman. His name is Mr. Firtash. He is under FBI investigation and expected to be extradited to the United States.”Oleksandr Kharchenko, the director of the Center for Energy Industry Research Center in Kyiv, said the changes damaged Firtash’s business interests. “It hit him directly,” he said. * * *Yessed to Death* * *Firtash, for his part, saw in Biden a swaggering politician overstepping his bounds—and a Ukrainian audience embarrassingly enchanted with what they saw.“When Biden came to Ukraine and he spoke in parliament, I was reminded of an old story from the Soviet Union when the first secretary of the ObKom [the regional committee of the Communist Party] came, and on the one side all the komsomoltsi [youth members of the Communist Party] lined up, and on the other the communists, and they all took loyalty oaths. You understand? That’s how approximately it was with Biden,” Firtash told The Daily Beast in February.Biden’s influence in Ukraine, he added, was “enormous.”Firtash saw Yatseniuk, the prime minister at the time, as a pawn of Biden and other Americans. “Who appointed whom, and who actually governed the country?” he said. Firtash has also sparred with Andriy Kobolyev, who became CEO of Naftogaz under Yatseniuk. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman—the indicted Giuliani associates—reportedly discussed an effort to oust Kobolyev earlier this year. Reuters has reported that Firtash financed their work. Firtash’s lawyers say scrutiny of Biden’s role is necessary for his criminal defense. “The U.S. and Austrian legal teams have always been focused on Dmitry Firtash’s innocence,” a spokesperson for DiGenova and Toensing said in a statement provided to The Daily Beast. “The U.S. Justice Department has submitted false and misleading statements about Mr. Firtash and the evidence in his case to the Austrian courts. In the context of reopening the extradition case, the Austrian legal team sought former Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin’s sworn statement as one of numerous statements and other evidence submitted to the Austrian court. The former Vice President’s role in Mr. Firtash’s extradition is materially relevant to the Austrian lawyers’ argument that the prosecution is political.”The 2015 reforms appear to have cost Firtash a lot of money. It’s difficult to estimate how much, as the oligarch’s finances are quite opaque. Victoria Voytsitska was a member of the eighth convocation of the Ukrainian parliament and a member of its committee on Fuel Energy, Nuclear Policies, and Security. She told The Daily Beast that the gas market reforms have likely cost Firtash about $215 million to $400 million a year since their 2015 rollout. “Firtash really was pushed out of Naftogaz’s financial flow,” Kharchenko said. That said, many caution against overestimating the significance of the reforms Ukraine implemented. Firtash remains immensely wealthy and powerful, and controls Ukrainian gas distribution networks, known as oblgazes. And in the wake of the Maidan Revolution, he kept control of his assets in Ukraine. Oligarchs still dominate Ukraine’s energy sector, which is far from a bastion of transparency.Ed Chow, an energy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Biden and the U.S. didn’t push hard enough for major, structural changes. “To be fair, Biden was the most senior U.S. official interested in Ukraine,” he said. “Without Biden, even less would have happened in terms of the U.S. government pressuring Ukraine. Ukrainians would have moved forward even less on reform. I would give the U.S. government a mixed grade.” An American political consultant who’s worked in Ukraine for years and spoke anonymously because of client sensitivities said Kyiv has honed its ability to satisfy Westerners without upending the status quo. “The Ukrainians, if you look at their history, they’ve always been at the edge of one empire or another,” the consultant said. “They were used to dealing with viceroys, representatives of the sultan, representatives of the Lithuanian empire, the Polish empire, the Russian and Soviet empires. They’re masters at paying lip service to the guy who comes to town for a week. They will yes him to death, and then the minute he leaves, it’s business as usual.”But business changed for Firtash after 2015. And Biden stayed on his mind.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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[orendrasingh]

Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast/Photos GettyIndicted Ukrainian gas oligarch Dmytro Firtash spent more than $1 million hiring key figures in Republican efforts to investigate the Biden family. His lawyers—who often go on Fox News to defend President Trump—say they needed the dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden to demonstrate that Firtash’s prosecution was politically motivated. But the two men have a history. Two Ukrainian gas industry experts say the gas-market reforms pushed by Biden and others in 2014 and 2015 hit Firtash in the wallet, and badly. One knowledgeable outside observer estimated that the 2014 and 2015 gas reforms and legislation cost him hundreds of millions of dollars. On Dec. 9, 2015, Biden gave a speech to Ukraine’s parliament. He praised the protesters who forced out Ukraine’s Russia-friendly president, he recited Ukrainian poetry, and he called for reforms to Ukraine’s gas market, too. “The energy sector needs to be competitive, ruled by market principles—not sweetheart deals,” he said, basking in the audience’s repeated applause.Firtash, who built his fortune in part through a rather sweet gas-trading deal, hated it. Earlier this year—more than three and a half years after the talk—he was still seething. Firtash told The Daily Beast that the Ukrainian parliamentarians in the audience were humiliatingly subservient to Biden. “He was the overlord,” Firtash said. “I was ashamed to look at this. I was repulsed.”Now people linked to Firtash are at the heart of Republicans’ efforts to find dirt on Biden, and a document Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has said is key to his theory of Biden World malfeasance was produced for Firtash’s legal team. The reporter who published that document, The Hill’s John Solomon, is a client of Firtash’s new lawyers, Victoria Toensing and Joe DiGenova. Over the summer, Trump pressured Ukraine’s president to cooperate with Giuliani’s efforts. That pressure stunned many Republicans and gave House Democratic leadership the impetus they had long sought to announce an impeachment inquiry. And two Giuliani associates reportedly brought up Firtash’s name when talking about their plans for Ukraine’s energy sector. Those two associates also worked with Giuliani to find dirt on Biden, and they’ve both been charged with financial crimes. On top of that, Firtash’s lawyers say one of them, Lev Parnas, has worked as a translator for his legal team. Firtash’s blunt assessment of Biden’s speech at the parliament and influence on Ukraine—shared earlier this year with The Daily Beast and published here in full for the first time—highlights how a battle over the future of Ukraine bled into the highest levels of American politics. Firtash’s company did not respond to requests for comment. Biden’s campaign called Firtash “a Kremlin-friendly Ukrainian oligarch who’s been wanted on bribery and racketeering charges in the U.S. since 2014.”* * *Gas Man* * *Firtash was born in Ukraine and—like many other up-and-coming oligarchs—grew rich in the rubble of the Soviet Union. After spending some time in Moscow, he started trading gas from Central Asia to Ukraine. His renown as a gas trader grew, and he made deals with Russia’s state-owned giant Gazprom to move Russia’s abundant gas to energy-hungry Ukraine. With Gazprom’s blessing, he got deals widely characterized as of the sweetheart variety: Firtash bought cheap gas from Russia, sold it for a lot more in Ukraine, and profited. He then bankrolled Russia-friendly politicians in Ukraine. One such politician was Viktor Yanukovych, who hired Paul Manafort. American diplomats at the time saw Firtash as a vector of Russian influence—part of the connective tissue between the Kremlin and Kyiv. And American law enforcement saw him as a crook. On April 2, 2014, the Justice Department announced that he had been indicted for authorizing $18.5 million in bribes to Indian government officials. The case involved efforts to mine for titanium that would be used in Boeing planes. Austrian authorities arrested Firtash a few weeks before the DOJ’s announcement. He posted about $174 million in bail and has since been living in Vienna, fighting extradition from his palatial corporate offices there. And while the allegation isn’t part of the DOJ’s indictment of Firtash, U.S. government lawyers have said in court that he’s an “upper echelon” associate of a Russian criminal organization. Firtash says the claim is baseless. In June of this year, an Austrian judge greenlit his extradition to the U.S. But his high-powered legal team is still fighting. And this July, that team got some new oomph: DiGenova and Toensing, a husband-and-wife duo who have worked on a host of contentious fights and have deep ties in Washington’s tight-knit conservative legal community. They even reportedly secured a meeting about Firtash’s case with Attorney General Bill Barr—a sit-down many criminal defense lawyers would kill for. Firtash’s team has long argued he’s the victim of a political prosecution and that the U.S. government only targeted him to blunt his influence in Ukraine. That’s where Biden comes in. * * *Direct Hit* * *In 2014, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets in protest. After Yanukovych’s government killed dozens of protesters, he was forced out and fled to Russia. He left behind a $20 billion hole in Ukraine’s economy, and the country teetered on the brink of fiscal collapse. Enter Biden. The vice president helmed America’s Ukraine policy, traveled to the country multiple times while in office, and said he spoke to the country’s president and prime minister “probably on average once a week if you average it out over the last year.” Kyiv was desperate for billions in support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where the U.S. holds sway. The Americans and the IMF pushed Ukraine to roll out a host of reforms to get the cash. "The Obama administration, and Vice President Biden in particular, led the international community to help advance gas sector reforms in Ukraine,” said a former State Department official with knowledge of the dynamics. “The thinking of the United States was that establishing an open, transparent gas sector would be vital to Ukraine’s fight against entrenched oligarchic corruption and would shore up the country’s strategic stability in the face of Russian aggression.” “Mr. Firtash’s control of RosUkrEnergo, which exerted monopolistic control over regional gas distribution, would have been threatened by these reforms,” the official added.Biden has touted his leverage over Kyiv, including successfully pushing for the ouster of the country’s then-chief prosecutor, Viktor Shokin. Biden wasn’t the only one pushing for Shokin to leave as part of Ukraine’s anti-corruption efforts. The prosecutor had put in anemic performance charging powerful and well-connected kleptocrats while in office and the IMF, the European Union, and Ukrainian anti-corruption activists all urged his ouster.Shokin had also scrutinized a gas company whose board included Biden’s son Hunter Biden, a fact that Trump and his allies have cited as evidence of corruption. They note that Shokin’s replacement wasn’t much better. But the reporter who broke the Hunter Biden story years ago reported that Joe Biden’s overall anti-corruption push in Ukraine likely endangered the company his son was linked to.The Americans and the IMF also pushed for a series of reforms to Ukraine’s energy sector, including the gas industry. In 2014 and 2015, the Ukrainians unveiled a variety of changes: Kyiv changed the corporate governance of its state-owned gas company, Naftogaz; it passed its “Natural Gas Market” law, which the prime minister touted as having “de-oligarchized and de-monopolized” the gas market; and it rolled out a basket of regulatory changes to its gas sector—with Biden cheerleading along the way. In a July 2015 speech, Biden praised Ukraine for “closing the space for corrupt middlemen who rip off the Ukrainian people.” “Middleman” was an epithet often aimed at oligarchs like Firtash, whose gas business had raked in millions by acting as a broker between Ukraine’s state-owned gas company and Russia’s Gazprom. “There is one of the biggest state-owned enterprises, which is Ukrainian Naftogaz, a gas company, that had very shadowy and non-transparent deals with middlemen and with the Russian Federation,” Arseniy Yatseniuk, the country’s prime minister at the time, said in a speech just two days after Biden’s. “So last year we eliminated this middleman. His name is Mr. Firtash. He is under FBI investigation and expected to be extradited to the United States.”Oleksandr Kharchenko, the director of the Center for Energy Industry Research Center in Kyiv, said the changes damaged Firtash’s business interests. “It hit him directly,” he said. * * *Yessed to Death* * *Firtash, for his part, saw in Biden a swaggering politician overstepping his bounds—and a Ukrainian audience embarrassingly enchanted with what they saw.“When Biden came to Ukraine and he spoke in parliament, I was reminded of an old story from the Soviet Union when the first secretary of the ObKom [the regional committee of the Communist Party] came, and on the one side all the komsomoltsi [youth members of the Communist Party] lined up, and on the other the communists, and they all took loyalty oaths. You understand? That’s how approximately it was with Biden,” Firtash told The Daily Beast in February.Biden’s influence in Ukraine, he added, was “enormous.”Firtash saw Yatseniuk, the prime minister at the time, as a pawn of Biden and other Americans. “Who appointed whom, and who actually governed the country?” he said. Firtash has also sparred with Andriy Kobolyev, who became CEO of Naftogaz under Yatseniuk. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman—the indicted Giuliani associates—reportedly discussed an effort to oust Kobolyev earlier this year. Reuters has reported that Firtash financed their work. Firtash’s lawyers say scrutiny of Biden’s role is necessary for his criminal defense. “The U.S. and Austrian legal teams have always been focused on Dmitry Firtash’s innocence,” a spokesperson for DiGenova and Toensing said in a statement provided to The Daily Beast. “The U.S. Justice Department has submitted false and misleading statements about Mr. Firtash and the evidence in his case to the Austrian courts. In the context of reopening the extradition case, the Austrian legal team sought former Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin’s sworn statement as one of numerous statements and other evidence submitted to the Austrian court. The former Vice President’s role in Mr. Firtash’s extradition is materially relevant to the Austrian lawyers’ argument that the prosecution is political.”The 2015 reforms appear to have cost Firtash a lot of money. It’s difficult to estimate how much, as the oligarch’s finances are quite opaque. Victoria Voytsitska was a member of the eighth convocation of the Ukrainian parliament and a member of its committee on Fuel Energy, Nuclear Policies, and Security. She told The Daily Beast that the gas market reforms have likely cost Firtash about $215 million to $400 million a year since their 2015 rollout. “Firtash really was pushed out of Naftogaz’s financial flow,” Kharchenko said. That said, many caution against overestimating the significance of the reforms Ukraine implemented. Firtash remains immensely wealthy and powerful, and controls Ukrainian gas distribution networks, known as oblgazes. And in the wake of the Maidan Revolution, he kept control of his assets in Ukraine. Oligarchs still dominate Ukraine’s energy sector, which is far from a bastion of transparency.Ed Chow, an energy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Biden and the U.S. didn’t push hard enough for major, structural changes. “To be fair, Biden was the most senior U.S. official interested in Ukraine,” he said. “Without Biden, even less would have happened in terms of the U.S. government pressuring Ukraine. Ukrainians would have moved forward even less on reform. I would give the U.S. government a mixed grade.” An American political consultant who’s worked in Ukraine for years and spoke anonymously because of client sensitivities said Kyiv has honed its ability to satisfy Westerners without upending the status quo. “The Ukrainians, if you look at their history, they’ve always been at the edge of one empire or another,” the consultant said. “They were used to dealing with viceroys, representatives of the sultan, representatives of the Lithuanian empire, the Polish empire, the Russian and Soviet empires. They’re masters at paying lip service to the guy who comes to town for a week. They will yes him to death, and then the minute he leaves, it’s business as usual.”But business changed for Firtash after 2015. And Biden stayed on his mind.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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[bigbirdgladiator]

Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast/Photos GettyIndicted Ukrainian gas oligarch Dmytro Firtash spent more than $1 million hiring key figures in Republican efforts to investigate the Biden family. His lawyers—who often go on Fox News to defend President Trump—say they needed the dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden to demonstrate that Firtash’s prosecution was politically motivated. But the two men have a history. Two Ukrainian gas industry experts say the gas-market reforms pushed by Biden and others in 2014 and 2015 hit Firtash in the wallet, and badly. One knowledgeable outside observer estimated that the 2014 and 2015 gas reforms and legislation cost him hundreds of millions of dollars. On Dec. 9, 2015, Biden gave a speech to Ukraine’s parliament. He praised the protesters who forced out Ukraine’s Russia-friendly president, he recited Ukrainian poetry, and he called for reforms to Ukraine’s gas market, too. “The energy sector needs to be competitive, ruled by market principles—not sweetheart deals,” he said, basking in the audience’s repeated applause.Firtash, who built his fortune in part through a rather sweet gas-trading deal, hated it. Earlier this year—more than three and a half years after the talk—he was still seething. Firtash told The Daily Beast that the Ukrainian parliamentarians in the audience were humiliatingly subservient to Biden. “He was the overlord,” Firtash said. “I was ashamed to look at this. I was repulsed.”Now people linked to Firtash are at the heart of Republicans’ efforts to find dirt on Biden, and a document Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has said is key to his theory of Biden World malfeasance was produced for Firtash’s legal team. The reporter who published that document, The Hill’s John Solomon, is a client of Firtash’s new lawyers, Victoria Toensing and Joe DiGenova. Over the summer, Trump pressured Ukraine’s president to cooperate with Giuliani’s efforts. That pressure stunned many Republicans and gave House Democratic leadership the impetus they had long sought to announce an impeachment inquiry. And two Giuliani associates reportedly brought up Firtash’s name when talking about their plans for Ukraine’s energy sector. Those two associates also worked with Giuliani to find dirt on Biden, and they’ve both been charged with financial crimes. On top of that, Firtash’s lawyers say one of them, Lev Parnas, has worked as a translator for his legal team. Firtash’s blunt assessment of Biden’s speech at the parliament and influence on Ukraine—shared earlier this year with The Daily Beast and published here in full for the first time—highlights how a battle over the future of Ukraine bled into the highest levels of American politics. Firtash’s company did not respond to requests for comment. Biden’s campaign called Firtash “a Kremlin-friendly Ukrainian oligarch who’s been wanted on bribery and racketeering charges in the U.S. since 2014.”* * *Gas Man* * *Firtash was born in Ukraine and—like many other up-and-coming oligarchs—grew rich in the rubble of the Soviet Union. After spending some time in Moscow, he started trading gas from Central Asia to Ukraine. His renown as a gas trader grew, and he made deals with Russia’s state-owned giant Gazprom to move Russia’s abundant gas to energy-hungry Ukraine. With Gazprom’s blessing, he got deals widely characterized as of the sweetheart variety: Firtash bought cheap gas from Russia, sold it for a lot more in Ukraine, and profited. He then bankrolled Russia-friendly politicians in Ukraine. One such politician was Viktor Yanukovych, who hired Paul Manafort. American diplomats at the time saw Firtash as a vector of Russian influence—part of the connective tissue between the Kremlin and Kyiv. And American law enforcement saw him as a crook. On April 2, 2014, the Justice Department announced that he had been indicted for authorizing $18.5 million in bribes to Indian government officials. The case involved efforts to mine for titanium that would be used in Boeing planes. Austrian authorities arrested Firtash a few weeks before the DOJ’s announcement. He posted about $174 million in bail and has since been living in Vienna, fighting extradition from his palatial corporate offices there. And while the allegation isn’t part of the DOJ’s indictment of Firtash, U.S. government lawyers have said in court that he’s an “upper echelon” associate of a Russian criminal organization. Firtash says the claim is baseless. In June of this year, an Austrian judge greenlit his extradition to the U.S. But his high-powered legal team is still fighting. And this July, that team got some new oomph: DiGenova and Toensing, a husband-and-wife duo who have worked on a host of contentious fights and have deep ties in Washington’s tight-knit conservative legal community. They even reportedly secured a meeting about Firtash’s case with Attorney General Bill Barr—a sit-down many criminal defense lawyers would kill for. Firtash’s team has long argued he’s the victim of a political prosecution and that the U.S. government only targeted him to blunt his influence in Ukraine. That’s where Biden comes in. * * *Direct Hit* * *In 2014, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets in protest. After Yanukovych’s government killed dozens of protesters, he was forced out and fled to Russia. He left behind a $20 billion hole in Ukraine’s economy, and the country teetered on the brink of fiscal collapse. Enter Biden. The vice president helmed America’s Ukraine policy, traveled to the country multiple times while in office, and said he spoke to the country’s president and prime minister “probably on average once a week if you average it out over the last year.” Kyiv was desperate for billions in support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where the U.S. holds sway. The Americans and the IMF pushed Ukraine to roll out a host of reforms to get the cash. "The Obama administration, and Vice President Biden in particular, led the international community to help advance gas sector reforms in Ukraine,” said a former State Department official with knowledge of the dynamics. “The thinking of the United States was that establishing an open, transparent gas sector would be vital to Ukraine’s fight against entrenched oligarchic corruption and would shore up the country’s strategic stability in the face of Russian aggression.” “Mr. Firtash’s control of RosUkrEnergo, which exerted monopolistic control over regional gas distribution, would have been threatened by these reforms,” the official added.Biden has touted his leverage over Kyiv, including successfully pushing for the ouster of the country’s then-chief prosecutor, Viktor Shokin. Biden wasn’t the only one pushing for Shokin to leave as part of Ukraine’s anti-corruption efforts. The prosecutor had put in anemic performance charging powerful and well-connected kleptocrats while in office and the IMF, the European Union, and Ukrainian anti-corruption activists all urged his ouster.Shokin had also scrutinized a gas company whose board included Biden’s son Hunter Biden, a fact that Trump and his allies have cited as evidence of corruption. They note that Shokin’s replacement wasn’t much better. But the reporter who broke the Hunter Biden story years ago reported that Joe Biden’s overall anti-corruption push in Ukraine likely endangered the company his son was linked to.The Americans and the IMF also pushed for a series of reforms to Ukraine’s energy sector, including the gas industry. In 2014 and 2015, the Ukrainians unveiled a variety of changes: Kyiv changed the corporate governance of its state-owned gas company, Naftogaz; it passed its “Natural Gas Market” law, which the prime minister touted as having “de-oligarchized and de-monopolized” the gas market; and it rolled out a basket of regulatory changes to its gas sector—with Biden cheerleading along the way. In a July 2015 speech, Biden praised Ukraine for “closing the space for corrupt middlemen who rip off the Ukrainian people.” “Middleman” was an epithet often aimed at oligarchs like Firtash, whose gas business had raked in millions by acting as a broker between Ukraine’s state-owned gas company and Russia’s Gazprom. “There is one of the biggest state-owned enterprises, which is Ukrainian Naftogaz, a gas company, that had very shadowy and non-transparent deals with middlemen and with the Russian Federation,” Arseniy Yatseniuk, the country’s prime minister at the time, said in a speech just two days after Biden’s. “So last year we eliminated this middleman. His name is Mr. Firtash. He is under FBI investigation and expected to be extradited to the United States.”Oleksandr Kharchenko, the director of the Center for Energy Industry Research Center in Kyiv, said the changes damaged Firtash’s business interests. “It hit him directly,” he said. * * *Yessed to Death* * *Firtash, for his part, saw in Biden a swaggering politician overstepping his bounds—and a Ukrainian audience embarrassingly enchanted with what they saw.“When Biden came to Ukraine and he spoke in parliament, I was reminded of an old story from the Soviet Union when the first secretary of the ObKom [the regional committee of the Communist Party] came, and on the one side all the komsomoltsi [youth members of the Communist Party] lined up, and on the other the communists, and they all took loyalty oaths. You understand? That’s how approximately it was with Biden,” Firtash told The Daily Beast in February.Biden’s influence in Ukraine, he added, was “enormous.”Firtash saw Yatseniuk, the prime minister at the time, as a pawn of Biden and other Americans. “Who appointed whom, and who actually governed the country?” he said. Firtash has also sparred with Andriy Kobolyev, who became CEO of Naftogaz under Yatseniuk. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman—the indicted Giuliani associates—reportedly discussed an effort to oust Kobolyev earlier this year. Reuters has reported that Firtash financed their work. Firtash’s lawyers say scrutiny of Biden’s role is necessary for his criminal defense. “The U.S. and Austrian legal teams have always been focused on Dmitry Firtash’s innocence,” a spokesperson for DiGenova and Toensing said in a statement provided to The Daily Beast. “The U.S. Justice Department has submitted false and misleading statements about Mr. Firtash and the evidence in his case to the Austrian courts. In the context of reopening the extradition case, the Austrian legal team sought former Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin’s sworn statement as one of numerous statements and other evidence submitted to the Austrian court. The former Vice President’s role in Mr. Firtash’s extradition is materially relevant to the Austrian lawyers’ argument that the prosecution is political.”The 2015 reforms appear to have cost Firtash a lot of money. It’s difficult to estimate how much, as the oligarch’s finances are quite opaque. Victoria Voytsitska was a member of the eighth convocation of the Ukrainian parliament and a member of its committee on Fuel Energy, Nuclear Policies, and Security. She told The Daily Beast that the gas market reforms have likely cost Firtash about $215 million to $400 million a year since their 2015 rollout. “Firtash really was pushed out of Naftogaz’s financial flow,” Kharchenko said. That said, many caution against overestimating the significance of the reforms Ukraine implemented. Firtash remains immensely wealthy and powerful, and controls Ukrainian gas distribution networks, known as oblgazes. And in the wake of the Maidan Revolution, he kept control of his assets in Ukraine. Oligarchs still dominate Ukraine’s energy sector, which is far from a bastion of transparency.Ed Chow, an energy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Biden and the U.S. didn’t push hard enough for major, structural changes. “To be fair, Biden was the most senior U.S. official interested in Ukraine,” he said. “Without Biden, even less would have happened in terms of the U.S. government pressuring Ukraine. Ukrainians would have moved forward even less on reform. I would give the U.S. government a mixed grade.” An American political consultant who’s worked in Ukraine for years and spoke anonymously because of client sensitivities said Kyiv has honed its ability to satisfy Westerners without upending the status quo. “The Ukrainians, if you look at their history, they’ve always been at the edge of one empire or another,” the consultant said. “They were used to dealing with viceroys, representatives of the sultan, representatives of the Lithuanian empire, the Polish empire, the Russian and Soviet empires. They’re masters at paying lip service to the guy who comes to town for a week. They will yes him to death, and then the minute he leaves, it’s business as usual.”But business changed for Firtash after 2015. And Biden stayed on his mind.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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[carlosroborto]

Semion Mogilivich - The Brainy Don, Russia's Boss of Bosses, and FBI's top 10 most wanted!

Semion Mogilivich - The Brainy Don, Russia's Boss of Bosses, and FBI's top 10 most wanted! Semion Yudkovich Mogilevich is a Ukrainian-born Russian organized crime boss. He quickly built a highly structured criminal organization, in the mode of an American mafia family; many of the organization's 250 members are his relatives. He is described by agencies in the European Union and United States as the "boss of all bosses" of most Russian Mafia syndicates in the world, he is believed to direct a multibillion-dollar international criminal empire and is described by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as "the most powerful and dangerous gangster in the world." With immense power and reach at a global scale, and connections to prominent government, military and law enforcement officials and powerful politicians around the world. He has been accused by the FBI of "weapons trafficking, contract murders, extortion, drug trafficking, and prostitution on an international scale." Mogilevich's nicknames include "Don Semyon" and "The Brainy Don" (because of his business acumen). According to US diplomatic cables, he controls RosUkrEnergo, a company actively involved in Russia–Ukraine gas disputes, and is a partner of Ivan Gordiyenko. Mogilevich has three children and is closely associated with the Solntsevskaya Bratva crime group. He has alliances with political figures including Yury Luzhkov, the former Mayor of Moscow, Dmytro Firtash, and Leonid Derkach, former head of the Security Service of Ukraine. Oleksandr Turchynov, who was designated the acting President of Ukraine in February 2014, appeared in court in 2010 for allegedly destroying files pertaining to Mogilevich. Shortly before his assassination, Russian FSB defector Alexander Litvinenko claimed Mogilevich had a "good relationship" with Vladimir Putin from the 1990s. William S. Sessions, Director of the FBI from 1987 to 1993 during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, was Mogilevich's attorney in the United States until Sessions' death on June 12, 2020.

[worldtopnewsoftheday]

Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast/Photos GettyIndicted Ukrainian gas oligarch Dmytro Firtash spent more than $1 million hiring key figures in Republican efforts to investigate the Biden family. His lawyers—who often go on Fox News to defend President Trump—say they needed the dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden to demonstrate that Firtash’s prosecution was politically motivated. But the two men have a history. Two Ukrainian gas industry experts say the gas-market reforms pushed by Biden and others in 2014 and 2015 hit Firtash in the wallet, and badly. One knowledgeable outside observer estimated that the 2014 and 2015 gas reforms and legislation cost him hundreds of millions of dollars. On Dec. 9, 2015, Biden gave a speech to Ukraine’s parliament. He praised the protesters who forced out Ukraine’s Russia-friendly president, he recited Ukrainian poetry, and he called for reforms to Ukraine’s gas market, too. “The energy sector needs to be competitive, ruled by market principles—not sweetheart deals,” he said, basking in the audience’s repeated applause.Firtash, who built his fortune in part through a rather sweet gas-trading deal, hated it. Earlier this year—more than three and a half years after the talk—he was still seething. Firtash told The Daily Beast that the Ukrainian parliamentarians in the audience were humiliatingly subservient to Biden. “He was the overlord,” Firtash said. “I was ashamed to look at this. I was repulsed.”Now people linked to Firtash are at the heart of Republicans’ efforts to find dirt on Biden, and a document Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has said is key to his theory of Biden World malfeasance was produced for Firtash’s legal team. The reporter who published that document, The Hill’s John Solomon, is a client of Firtash’s new lawyers, Victoria Toensing and Joe DiGenova. Over the summer, Trump pressured Ukraine’s president to cooperate with Giuliani’s efforts. That pressure stunned many Republicans and gave House Democratic leadership the impetus they had long sought to announce an impeachment inquiry. And two Giuliani associates reportedly brought up Firtash’s name when talking about their plans for Ukraine’s energy sector. Those two associates also worked with Giuliani to find dirt on Biden, and they’ve both been charged with financial crimes. On top of that, Firtash’s lawyers say one of them, Lev Parnas, has worked as a translator for his legal team. Firtash’s blunt assessment of Biden’s speech at the parliament and influence on Ukraine—shared earlier this year with The Daily Beast and published here in full for the first time—highlights how a battle over the future of Ukraine bled into the highest levels of American politics. Firtash’s company did not respond to requests for comment. Biden’s campaign called Firtash “a Kremlin-friendly Ukrainian oligarch who’s been wanted on bribery and racketeering charges in the U.S. since 2014.”* * *Gas Man* * *Firtash was born in Ukraine and—like many other up-and-coming oligarchs—grew rich in the rubble of the Soviet Union. After spending some time in Moscow, he started trading gas from Central Asia to Ukraine. His renown as a gas trader grew, and he made deals with Russia’s state-owned giant Gazprom to move Russia’s abundant gas to energy-hungry Ukraine. With Gazprom’s blessing, he got deals widely characterized as of the sweetheart variety: Firtash bought cheap gas from Russia, sold it for a lot more in Ukraine, and profited. He then bankrolled Russia-friendly politicians in Ukraine. One such politician was Viktor Yanukovych, who hired Paul Manafort. American diplomats at the time saw Firtash as a vector of Russian influence—part of the connective tissue between the Kremlin and Kyiv. And American law enforcement saw him as a crook. On April 2, 2014, the Justice Department announced that he had been indicted for authorizing $18.5 million in bribes to Indian government officials. The case involved efforts to mine for titanium that would be used in Boeing planes. Austrian authorities arrested Firtash a few weeks before the DOJ’s announcement. He posted about $174 million in bail and has since been living in Vienna, fighting extradition from his palatial corporate offices there. And while the allegation isn’t part of the DOJ’s indictment of Firtash, U.S. government lawyers have said in court that he’s an “upper echelon” associate of a Russian criminal organization. Firtash says the claim is baseless. In June of this year, an Austrian judge greenlit his extradition to the U.S. But his high-powered legal team is still fighting. And this July, that team got some new oomph: DiGenova and Toensing, a husband-and-wife duo who have worked on a host of contentious fights and have deep ties in Washington’s tight-knit conservative legal community. They even reportedly secured a meeting about Firtash’s case with Attorney General Bill Barr—a sit-down many criminal defense lawyers would kill for. Firtash’s team has long argued he’s the victim of a political prosecution and that the U.S. government only targeted him to blunt his influence in Ukraine. That’s where Biden comes in. * * *Direct Hit* * *In 2014, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets in protest. After Yanukovych’s government killed dozens of protesters, he was forced out and fled to Russia. He left behind a $20 billion hole in Ukraine’s economy, and the country teetered on the brink of fiscal collapse. Enter Biden. The vice president helmed America’s Ukraine policy, traveled to the country multiple times while in office, and said he spoke to the country’s president and prime minister “probably on average once a week if you average it out over the last year.” Kyiv was desperate for billions in support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where the U.S. holds sway. The Americans and the IMF pushed Ukraine to roll out a host of reforms to get the cash. "The Obama administration, and Vice President Biden in particular, led the international community to help advance gas sector reforms in Ukraine,” said a former State Department official with knowledge of the dynamics. “The thinking of the United States was that establishing an open, transparent gas sector would be vital to Ukraine’s fight against entrenched oligarchic corruption and would shore up the country’s strategic stability in the face of Russian aggression.” “Mr. Firtash’s control of RosUkrEnergo, which exerted monopolistic control over regional gas distribution, would have been threatened by these reforms,” the official added.Biden has touted his leverage over Kyiv, including successfully pushing for the ouster of the country’s then-chief prosecutor, Viktor Shokin. Biden wasn’t the only one pushing for Shokin to leave as part of Ukraine’s anti-corruption efforts. The prosecutor had put in anemic performance charging powerful and well-connected kleptocrats while in office and the IMF, the European Union, and Ukrainian anti-corruption activists all urged his ouster.Shokin had also scrutinized a gas company whose board included Biden’s son Hunter Biden, a fact that Trump and his allies have cited as evidence of corruption. They note that Shokin’s replacement wasn’t much better. But the reporter who broke the Hunter Biden story years ago reported that Joe Biden’s overall anti-corruption push in Ukraine likely endangered the company his son was linked to.The Americans and the IMF also pushed for a series of reforms to Ukraine’s energy sector, including the gas industry. In 2014 and 2015, the Ukrainians unveiled a variety of changes: Kyiv changed the corporate governance of its state-owned gas company, Naftogaz; it passed its “Natural Gas Market” law, which the prime minister touted as having “de-oligarchized and de-monopolized” the gas market; and it rolled out a basket of regulatory changes to its gas sector—with Biden cheerleading along the way. In a July 2015 speech, Biden praised Ukraine for “closing the space for corrupt middlemen who rip off the Ukrainian people.” “Middleman” was an epithet often aimed at oligarchs like Firtash, whose gas business had raked in millions by acting as a broker between Ukraine’s state-owned gas company and Russia’s Gazprom. “There is one of the biggest state-owned enterprises, which is Ukrainian Naftogaz, a gas company, that had very shadowy and non-transparent deals with middlemen and with the Russian Federation,” Arseniy Yatseniuk, the country’s prime minister at the time, said in a speech just two days after Biden’s. “So last year we eliminated this middleman. His name is Mr. Firtash. He is under FBI investigation and expected to be extradited to the United States.”Oleksandr Kharchenko, the director of the Center for Energy Industry Research Center in Kyiv, said the changes damaged Firtash’s business interests. “It hit him directly,” he said. * * *Yessed to Death* * *Firtash, for his part, saw in Biden a swaggering politician overstepping his bounds—and a Ukrainian audience embarrassingly enchanted with what they saw.“When Biden came to Ukraine and he spoke in parliament, I was reminded of an old story from the Soviet Union when the first secretary of the ObKom [the regional committee of the Communist Party] came, and on the one side all the komsomoltsi [youth members of the Communist Party] lined up, and on the other the communists, and they all took loyalty oaths. You understand? That’s how approximately it was with Biden,” Firtash told The Daily Beast in February.Biden’s influence in Ukraine, he added, was “enormous.”Firtash saw Yatseniuk, the prime minister at the time, as a pawn of Biden and other Americans. “Who appointed whom, and who actually governed the country?” he said. Firtash has also sparred with Andriy Kobolyev, who became CEO of Naftogaz under Yatseniuk. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman—the indicted Giuliani associates—reportedly discussed an effort to oust Kobolyev earlier this year. Reuters has reported that Firtash financed their work. Firtash’s lawyers say scrutiny of Biden’s role is necessary for his criminal defense. “The U.S. and Austrian legal teams have always been focused on Dmitry Firtash’s innocence,” a spokesperson for DiGenova and Toensing said in a statement provided to The Daily Beast. “The U.S. Justice Department has submitted false and misleading statements about Mr. Firtash and the evidence in his case to the Austrian courts. In the context of reopening the extradition case, the Austrian legal team sought former Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin’s sworn statement as one of numerous statements and other evidence submitted to the Austrian court. The former Vice President’s role in Mr. Firtash’s extradition is materially relevant to the Austrian lawyers’ argument that the prosecution is political.”The 2015 reforms appear to have cost Firtash a lot of money. It’s difficult to estimate how much, as the oligarch’s finances are quite opaque. Victoria Voytsitska was a member of the eighth convocation of the Ukrainian parliament and a member of its committee on Fuel Energy, Nuclear Policies, and Security. She told The Daily Beast that the gas market reforms have likely cost Firtash about $215 million to $400 million a year since their 2015 rollout. “Firtash really was pushed out of Naftogaz’s financial flow,” Kharchenko said. That said, many caution against overestimating the significance of the reforms Ukraine implemented. Firtash remains immensely wealthy and powerful, and controls Ukrainian gas distribution networks, known as oblgazes. And in the wake of the Maidan Revolution, he kept control of his assets in Ukraine. Oligarchs still dominate Ukraine’s energy sector, which is far from a bastion of transparency.Ed Chow, an energy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Biden and the U.S. didn’t push hard enough for major, structural changes. “To be fair, Biden was the most senior U.S. official interested in Ukraine,” he said. “Without Biden, even less would have happened in terms of the U.S. government pressuring Ukraine. Ukrainians would have moved forward even less on reform. I would give the U.S. government a mixed grade.” An American political consultant who’s worked in Ukraine for years and spoke anonymously because of client sensitivities said Kyiv has honed its ability to satisfy Westerners without upending the status quo. “The Ukrainians, if you look at their history, they’ve always been at the edge of one empire or another,” the consultant said. “They were used to dealing with viceroys, representatives of the sultan, representatives of the Lithuanian empire, the Polish empire, the Russian and Soviet empires. They’re masters at paying lip service to the guy who comes to town for a week. They will yes him to death, and then the minute he leaves, it’s business as usual.”But business changed for Firtash after 2015. And Biden stayed on his mind.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/36bzPhi

[justsimplylovely]

Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast/Photos GettyIndicted Ukrainian gas oligarch Dmytro Firtash spent more than $1 million hiring key figures in Republican efforts to investigate the Biden family. His lawyers—who often go on Fox News to defend President Trump—say they needed the dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden to demonstrate that Firtash’s prosecution was politically motivated. But the two men have a history. Two Ukrainian gas industry experts say the gas-market reforms pushed by Biden and others in 2014 and 2015 hit Firtash in the wallet, and badly. One knowledgeable outside observer estimated that the 2014 and 2015 gas reforms and legislation cost him hundreds of millions of dollars. On Dec. 9, 2015, Biden gave a speech to Ukraine’s parliament. He praised the protesters who forced out Ukraine’s Russia-friendly president, he recited Ukrainian poetry, and he called for reforms to Ukraine’s gas market, too. “The energy sector needs to be competitive, ruled by market principles—not sweetheart deals,” he said, basking in the audience’s repeated applause.Firtash, who built his fortune in part through a rather sweet gas-trading deal, hated it. Earlier this year—more than three and a half years after the talk—he was still seething. Firtash told The Daily Beast that the Ukrainian parliamentarians in the audience were humiliatingly subservient to Biden. “He was the overlord,” Firtash said. “I was ashamed to look at this. I was repulsed.”Now people linked to Firtash are at the heart of Republicans’ efforts to find dirt on Biden, and a document Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has said is key to his theory of Biden World malfeasance was produced for Firtash’s legal team. The reporter who published that document, The Hill’s John Solomon, is a client of Firtash’s new lawyers, Victoria Toensing and Joe DiGenova. Over the summer, Trump pressured Ukraine’s president to cooperate with Giuliani’s efforts. That pressure stunned many Republicans and gave House Democratic leadership the impetus they had long sought to announce an impeachment inquiry. And two Giuliani associates reportedly brought up Firtash’s name when talking about their plans for Ukraine’s energy sector. Those two associates also worked with Giuliani to find dirt on Biden, and they’ve both been charged with financial crimes. On top of that, Firtash’s lawyers say one of them, Lev Parnas, has worked as a translator for his legal team. Firtash’s blunt assessment of Biden’s speech at the parliament and influence on Ukraine—shared earlier this year with The Daily Beast and published here in full for the first time—highlights how a battle over the future of Ukraine bled into the highest levels of American politics. Firtash’s company did not respond to requests for comment. Biden’s campaign called Firtash “a Kremlin-friendly Ukrainian oligarch who’s been wanted on bribery and racketeering charges in the U.S. since 2014.”* * *Gas Man* * *Firtash was born in Ukraine and—like many other up-and-coming oligarchs—grew rich in the rubble of the Soviet Union. After spending some time in Moscow, he started trading gas from Central Asia to Ukraine. His renown as a gas trader grew, and he made deals with Russia’s state-owned giant Gazprom to move Russia’s abundant gas to energy-hungry Ukraine. With Gazprom’s blessing, he got deals widely characterized as of the sweetheart variety: Firtash bought cheap gas from Russia, sold it for a lot more in Ukraine, and profited. He then bankrolled Russia-friendly politicians in Ukraine. One such politician was Viktor Yanukovych, who hired Paul Manafort. American diplomats at the time saw Firtash as a vector of Russian influence—part of the connective tissue between the Kremlin and Kyiv. And American law enforcement saw him as a crook. On April 2, 2014, the Justice Department announced that he had been indicted for authorizing $18.5 million in bribes to Indian government officials. The case involved efforts to mine for titanium that would be used in Boeing planes. Austrian authorities arrested Firtash a few weeks before the DOJ’s announcement. He posted about $174 million in bail and has since been living in Vienna, fighting extradition from his palatial corporate offices there. And while the allegation isn’t part of the DOJ’s indictment of Firtash, U.S. government lawyers have said in court that he’s an “upper echelon” associate of a Russian criminal organization. Firtash says the claim is baseless. In June of this year, an Austrian judge greenlit his extradition to the U.S. But his high-powered legal team is still fighting. And this July, that team got some new oomph: DiGenova and Toensing, a husband-and-wife duo who have worked on a host of contentious fights and have deep ties in Washington’s tight-knit conservative legal community. They even reportedly secured a meeting about Firtash’s case with Attorney General Bill Barr—a sit-down many criminal defense lawyers would kill for. Firtash’s team has long argued he’s the victim of a political prosecution and that the U.S. government only targeted him to blunt his influence in Ukraine. That’s where Biden comes in. * * *Direct Hit* * *In 2014, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets in protest. After Yanukovych’s government killed dozens of protesters, he was forced out and fled to Russia. He left behind a $20 billion hole in Ukraine’s economy, and the country teetered on the brink of fiscal collapse. Enter Biden. The vice president helmed America’s Ukraine policy, traveled to the country multiple times while in office, and said he spoke to the country’s president and prime minister “probably on average once a week if you average it out over the last year.” Kyiv was desperate for billions in support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where the U.S. holds sway. The Americans and the IMF pushed Ukraine to roll out a host of reforms to get the cash. "The Obama administration, and Vice President Biden in particular, led the international community to help advance gas sector reforms in Ukraine,” said a former State Department official with knowledge of the dynamics. “The thinking of the United States was that establishing an open, transparent gas sector would be vital to Ukraine’s fight against entrenched oligarchic corruption and would shore up the country’s strategic stability in the face of Russian aggression.” “Mr. Firtash’s control of RosUkrEnergo, which exerted monopolistic control over regional gas distribution, would have been threatened by these reforms,” the official added.Biden has touted his leverage over Kyiv, including successfully pushing for the ouster of the country’s then-chief prosecutor, Viktor Shokin. Biden wasn’t the only one pushing for Shokin to leave as part of Ukraine’s anti-corruption efforts. The prosecutor had put in anemic performance charging powerful and well-connected kleptocrats while in office and the IMF, the European Union, and Ukrainian anti-corruption activists all urged his ouster.Shokin had also scrutinized a gas company whose board included Biden’s son Hunter Biden, a fact that Trump and his allies have cited as evidence of corruption. They note that Shokin’s replacement wasn’t much better. But the reporter who broke the Hunter Biden story years ago reported that Joe Biden’s overall anti-corruption push in Ukraine likely endangered the company his son was linked to.The Americans and the IMF also pushed for a series of reforms to Ukraine’s energy sector, including the gas industry. In 2014 and 2015, the Ukrainians unveiled a variety of changes: Kyiv changed the corporate governance of its state-owned gas company, Naftogaz; it passed its “Natural Gas Market” law, which the prime minister touted as having “de-oligarchized and de-monopolized” the gas market; and it rolled out a basket of regulatory changes to its gas sector—with Biden cheerleading along the way. In a July 2015 speech, Biden praised Ukraine for “closing the space for corrupt middlemen who rip off the Ukrainian people.” “Middleman” was an epithet often aimed at oligarchs like Firtash, whose gas business had raked in millions by acting as a broker between Ukraine’s state-owned gas company and Russia’s Gazprom. “There is one of the biggest state-owned enterprises, which is Ukrainian Naftogaz, a gas company, that had very shadowy and non-transparent deals with middlemen and with the Russian Federation,” Arseniy Yatseniuk, the country’s prime minister at the time, said in a speech just two days after Biden’s. “So last year we eliminated this middleman. His name is Mr. Firtash. He is under FBI investigation and expected to be extradited to the United States.”Oleksandr Kharchenko, the director of the Center for Energy Industry Research Center in Kyiv, said the changes damaged Firtash’s business interests. “It hit him directly,” he said. * * *Yessed to Death* * *Firtash, for his part, saw in Biden a swaggering politician overstepping his bounds—and a Ukrainian audience embarrassingly enchanted with what they saw.“When Biden came to Ukraine and he spoke in parliament, I was reminded of an old story from the Soviet Union when the first secretary of the ObKom [the regional committee of the Communist Party] came, and on the one side all the komsomoltsi [youth members of the Communist Party] lined up, and on the other the communists, and they all took loyalty oaths. You understand? That’s how approximately it was with Biden,” Firtash told The Daily Beast in February.Biden’s influence in Ukraine, he added, was “enormous.”Firtash saw Yatseniuk, the prime minister at the time, as a pawn of Biden and other Americans. “Who appointed whom, and who actually governed the country?” he said. Firtash has also sparred with Andriy Kobolyev, who became CEO of Naftogaz under Yatseniuk. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman—the indicted Giuliani associates—reportedly discussed an effort to oust Kobolyev earlier this year. Reuters has reported that Firtash financed their work. Firtash’s lawyers say scrutiny of Biden’s role is necessary for his criminal defense. “The U.S. and Austrian legal teams have always been focused on Dmitry Firtash’s innocence,” a spokesperson for DiGenova and Toensing said in a statement provided to The Daily Beast. “The U.S. Justice Department has submitted false and misleading statements about Mr. Firtash and the evidence in his case to the Austrian courts. In the context of reopening the extradition case, the Austrian legal team sought former Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin’s sworn statement as one of numerous statements and other evidence submitted to the Austrian court. The former Vice President’s role in Mr. Firtash’s extradition is materially relevant to the Austrian lawyers’ argument that the prosecution is political.”The 2015 reforms appear to have cost Firtash a lot of money. It’s difficult to estimate how much, as the oligarch’s finances are quite opaque. Victoria Voytsitska was a member of the eighth convocation of the Ukrainian parliament and a member of its committee on Fuel Energy, Nuclear Policies, and Security. She told The Daily Beast that the gas market reforms have likely cost Firtash about $215 million to $400 million a year since their 2015 rollout. “Firtash really was pushed out of Naftogaz’s financial flow,” Kharchenko said. That said, many caution against overestimating the significance of the reforms Ukraine implemented. Firtash remains immensely wealthy and powerful, and controls Ukrainian gas distribution networks, known as oblgazes. And in the wake of the Maidan Revolution, he kept control of his assets in Ukraine. Oligarchs still dominate Ukraine’s energy sector, which is far from a bastion of transparency.Ed Chow, an energy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Biden and the U.S. didn’t push hard enough for major, structural changes. “To be fair, Biden was the most senior U.S. official interested in Ukraine,” he said. “Without Biden, even less would have happened in terms of the U.S. government pressuring Ukraine. Ukrainians would have moved forward even less on reform. I would give the U.S. government a mixed grade.” An American political consultant who’s worked in Ukraine for years and spoke anonymously because of client sensitivities said Kyiv has honed its ability to satisfy Westerners without upending the status quo. “The Ukrainians, if you look at their history, they’ve always been at the edge of one empire or another,” the consultant said. “They were used to dealing with viceroys, representatives of the sultan, representatives of the Lithuanian empire, the Polish empire, the Russian and Soviet empires. They’re masters at paying lip service to the guy who comes to town for a week. They will yes him to death, and then the minute he leaves, it’s business as usual.”But business changed for Firtash after 2015. And Biden stayed on his mind.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/36bzPhi

[goaleksandrbrusov]

В Нафтогазе заявили о намерении предъявить новые претензии к "Газпрому" на $17,3 млрд.

Исполнительный директор "Нафтогаза Украины" Юрий Витренко заявил о намерении украинской компании предъявить новые претензии к российскому "Газпрому" на общую сумму 17,3 миллиарда долларов. "Моя команда четко сформулировала и представила на согласование наблюдательному совету "Нафтогаза" дополнительные "вопросы" к "Газпрому" на сумму еще 17,3 миллиарда долларов. В случае согласования — впереди также много работы", — написал Юрий Витренко в Facebook. О каких именно вопросах идет речь, он не уточнил. Отметим, в феврале текущего года Юрий Витренко заявлял, что компания "Нафтогаз", также изучает возможность обратиться с иском в Стокгольмский арбитраж о переуступке ему в 2009 году "Газпромом" долга RosUkrEnergo на сумму 1,7 миллиарда долларов. - сообщает РИА. Напомним, в конце минувшего года Россия и Украина подписали пакет соглашений о транзите газа через Украину. Согласно контракту, заключённому на пять лет, "Газпром" гарантирует прокачку 65 млрд. куб. метров газа в первый год и по 40 миллиардов кубометров в последующие четыре года. Тажке стороны пришли к урегулированию юридических разногласий и подписали соглашение об отказе от исковых требований, по которым еще не был вынесен окончательный вердикт.

Пока Украина и США останавливали "Северный поток-2", проморгали большую для себя угрозу Компания "Газпром", со свой стороны, также выплатила "Нафтогазу" 2,9 миллиарда долларов в соответствии с решением Стокгольмского арбитража, а правительство Украины подписало мировое соглашение о снятии антимонопольных претензий к российскому концерну на 7,4 миллиарда долларов. Ранее депутат Государственной Думы Алексей Чепа (комитет Госдумы по международным делам) объяснил суть появившихся «новых идей» с украинской стороны тем, что наш «Газпром» обязан был принимать во внимание все нюансы при подписании договоров с украинским оператором о поставках газа, а конкретно «всю подлость людей, руководящих этой структурой». И будущий шаг Нафтогаза (если так и поступят) действительно является "верхом наглости и подлости со стороны руководства «Нафтогаза»". В конце февраля этого года украинский эксперт по вопросам энергетики Валентин Землянский заявил, что «Газпром» имеет возможность создать серьёзную конкуренцию «Нафтогазу», если компания из РФ придёт на Украину в качестве самостоятельного оператора и станет продавать газ по гораздо более привлекательной цене. Read the full article

[asylum-ireland-blog]

Will Europe help or hinder Ukraine in corruption fight?

New Post has been published on http://asylumireland.ml/will-europe-help-or-hinder-ukraine-in-corruption-fight/

Will Europe help or hinder Ukraine in corruption fight?

Taras Kuzio

On June 7, Ukraine finally adopted a law on an Anti-Corruption Court (ACC).

Credit should be given to Ukraine’s civil society, the EU, the International Monetary Fund and Western governments which applied pressure on the Ukrainian government and parliament.

But, the massive vote for an ACC could not have happened without the support of President Petro Poroshenko whose parliamentary coalition provided the bulk of the votes.

The logic for the creation of an ACC is straightforward.

Ukraine’s courts are corrupt and have been proven to be unable to prosecute senior officials, politicians and oligarchs who are accused of abuse of office, corruption and other illegal acts.

Progress in criminally charging those accused of crimes has been slow despite Ukraine having created new institutions such as the NABU (National Anti-Corruption Bureau).

As a body independent of the old corrupt judicial system the ACC should therefore speed up the prosecution of Ukrainian ruling elites.

At the same time, an ACC would be a white elephant if Europe does not step up and stop being a haven for corrupt Ukrainian officials and oligarchs.

The fight against corruption is not confined to Ukraine but is multi-pronged and also includes Europe which has been until now a weak link.

Here is why.

Firstly, while calling upon Ukraine to energise its fight against corruption, European countries and their Caribbean tax havens continue to accept billions of dollars from Ukraine and other former Soviet states.

Kiev…but also London

Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International describes London as the money laundering capital of the world.

EU members Cyprus and Latvia are notorious as money laundromats for dirty money, concerning Washington to such a degree that the US treasury department recently pressured Riga to implement significant banking reforms.

The EU should follow the US in applying pressure on Latvia and Cyprus to clean up their financial sectors.

The stashing of huge amounts of dirty money in Europe can be used for the buying of influence and corrupting local politics. It is not only populists and nationalists who have taken Russian money; the British Conservative party accepted nearly £1m (€1.13m) from Russian oligarchs.

Secondly, Europe has long indulged in corruption from Eurasia.

Former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder heads up Nord Stream for Russia’s state-owned Gazprom which is now building Nord Stream 2.

Ukrainian president Poroshenko believes that supporters of Nord Stream 2 are “Russia’s accomplices in its hybrid war” against Ukraine and other neighbouring countries.

Paul Manafort, under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, hired a slew of Europeans known as the ‘Hapsburg group’ headed by former Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer.

Gas intermediary RosUkrEnergo created by gas tycoon Dmytro Firtash, wanted by the US and Spain on corruption and money laundering charges, was registered in Switzerland and Austria.

Thirdly, numerous European countries provide sanctuary and asylum to Ukrainians accused of corruption.

For the last four years, Firtash has been awaiting the outcome of US and Spanish requests for his extradition which is being held up by Austrian courts and politicians turned ‘consultants.’

Serhiy Bodnarchuk, former head of the Ukrainian arms export agency is wanted by Ukraine and Interpol and is seeking asylum in the UK.

Oligarchs Oleksandr Onyshchenko and Igor Kolomoysky are bitter opponents of president Poroshenko and live in Spain and Switzerland respectively.

In 2016, Onyshchenko was accused of involvement in corruption in the gas trade and fled abroad before his parliamentary immunity was lifted. Spain, Germany and the UK have refused to extradite him to Ukraine to stand trial.

Kolomoysky, who is ranked the second wealthiest oligarch in Ukraine and has Swiss and Israeli citizenship in addition to Ukrainian, has been deprived of two sources of corrupt income by Poroshenko.

The first was a money laundering scheme through Pryvat Bank, nationalised in late 2016, which over the last decade netted him and his associates $5.5bn (€4.7bn). This money laundering could not have been successful without the use of European banks.

The second was Kolomoysky’s control over the state oil refining company UkrNafta which had been given to him by then prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko in January 2010 in return for his support for her election.

Last month a London court returned control over UkrNafta to state gas company Naftohaz Ukrainy. Kolomoysky is, not surprisingly, backing Tymoshenko in next year’s Ukrainian presidential elections.

The establishment of an ACC is a step forward in Ukraine’s fight against corruption but could still be undermined by European governments continuing to turn a blind eye to the source of illicit capital, providing asylum to those fleeing justice and allowing property purchases by oligarchs.

For the ACC to be successful requires Europe to step up and end its love of dirty money.

Taras Kuzio is a professor in the department of political science, National University Kyiv Mohyla Academy and Non-Resident Fellow, Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins University. He is joint author of The Sources of Russia’s Great Power Politics: Ukraine and the Challenge to the European Order published this month

[front-ua-blog]

Тайные времена Авакова или как на крови патриотов зарабатываются миллиарды

Пока вражеский РАО «Газпром» прекращает поставки газа для НАК «Нафтогаз України», последняя экстренно ищет газ в ЕС и заключает договор на поставку газа с польской компанией PGNIG, пишет журналист Александр Мединский, которого цитирует "Открытая Украина". Гражданский корпус «Азов» подконтрольный Арсену Авакову разжигает украино-польское противостояние на фоне попыток «Нафтогаза України» заключить газовый контракт в Польше, проводя во Львове антипольский марш «Азова», тем самым старается сорвать и без того нелегкие переговоры.

"Следующий инциндент, который мы не можем упустить из вида, раскачка националистичискими движениями Закарпатья, с целью осуждения Чешскими властями ущемления прав нацменшинств. К чему бы все это?" - задается вопросом журналист Александр Мединский. Как стало известно его источнику, все банально просто, - это все фон для реализации плана обогащения некоторых известных лиц, с целью заработка на крови настоящих патриотов, которых мы изо дня в день теряем, ведя войну с Кремлевским агрессором, окупировавшим наши территории, и дальнейшего выкачивания этих средств в офшоры, подальше от многострадальной Украины. На этом фоне ведутся очень важные переговоры, в Чехии, где к власти пришел одиозно прославившийся своим предложением Украине вытребовать денежную компенсацию у России за Крым президент Милош Земан. Инвестиции в его избирательную кампанию теперь и будут окупаться с перепродажи Украине российского газа по завышенной цене. И как бы Юлия Владимировна Тимошенко не претендовала  на титул «Газовой Королевы», но "молодая поросль" наступают на пятки, и похоже что в скором времени у нас появиться новая «Газовая принцесса», Закарпатского происхождения, некая Татьяна Поп, называющая себя «русинкой». В данный момент они (Татьяна Поп и Земан - прим. ред.) пытаются завести свою компанию с эксклюзивными возможностями закупать дополнительно необходимый Украине объём газа для дальнейшей перепродажи его же Украине. Такую благосклонность «Газпрома» и Фирташа к чешскому политику пролоббировала «русинская активистка» Татьяна Поп, взамен на поддержку Чехией закарпатского сепаратизма и ее, Поп, статуса, как политического лидера русинов. Связью между Арсеном Аваковым и Дмитрием Фирташем, как выяснилось, являются именно указанная нами "фаворитка" некогда влиятельного "беглого" украинского олигарха, совладельца пресловутого газового посредника "RosUkrEnergo". Доказательством связи, госпожи Поп и Арсена Борисовича является теплая встреча "русинки" с соратником министра внутренних дел Украины, а нынче лидером Социалистической партии Украины Ильей Кивой в австрийском отеле "The Ritz Carlton", где журналисту удалось запечатлить их весьма длительный и эмоциональный разговор. Весьма примечательно, что с украинской стороны закупки газа в Чехии лоббируют люди Арсена Авакова, в частности, коммерческий директор НАК «Нафтогаз України» Юрий Витренко и, собственно, глава правления - Андрей Коболев, ну и как также не упомянуть о новоявленном социалисте - Илье Киве?

Кроме чисто коррупционной составляющей, мы имеем риск потворства силовым министром сепаратизма в западных регионах Украины, ведь не будет же Арсен Борисович, рубить потоки приносящие ему стабильный доход?

У корреспондентов ряда украинских изданий оказалась переписка в одном из популярных мессенджеров между, как они подозревают, беглым олигархом Дмитрием Фирташем и коммерческим директором НАК «Нафтогаз України» Юрием Витренко:

Мы решили удостовериться в подлинности этой переписки и  провели собственное расследование. Вот что нам удалось узнать: Договор между НАК «Нафтогаз Україні» и польской государственной компанией «PGNIG» о поставках газа для Украины действительно заключен. О чем, как о благополучной победе над Кремлевским агрессором закупив газ больше чем по 1000 у.е за кубический метр нам ратовал именно коммерческий директор Юрий Витренко. Ратующий нам и борящийся якобы с «Газпромовскими товарищами» в кабмине Гройсмана и одиозным олигархом  Фирташем. В ходе расследования мы получили инсайдерскую информацию и выглядит она следующим образом:

Победа Юрия Витренко над "Газпромом", конечно, ошеломляюща, а вот борьба с Дмитрием Фирташем выглядит, как борьба Дон Кихота с ветряными мельницами. Газ который Украина, в лице господ Витренко и Коболева закупила у Польской компании «PGNIG» принадлежит и поставлен Украине австрийской компанией  «Osthem Holding», бенефициаром которой является Дмитрий Фирташ, и панамской «Kingstone groupe LTD», конечным бенефициаром  является Александр Аваков - сын министра внутренних дел Украины Арсена Авакова.

Как же так получается, что пламенные борцы с "Газпромом" и Фирташем благополучно рапортуют о победе осуществив закупку газа у своих же врагов, с которыми так усердно ведут публичную борьбу?

Но это еще не все, что удалось узнать. Данными товарищами решительно готовится запасной сценарий для поставок Украине «европейского» газа, т.е. так называемый чешский вариант. В частности, по Чехии проводят компанию «Wargrave Trading LLP», которая в свою очередь является соучредителем украинской компании «РО Транс-Газ». Номинальными владельцами данной компании являются офшорный «Krontex Services LTD» (Белиз) и «Nostrex Services LTD» (Доминиканская Республика). В государственном реестре юридических лиц, бенефициарии этих фирм не раскрыты. Но конечными бенефициарами по Доминиканской республике является упомянутая в переписке Татьяна Поп и... Александр Аваков. Конечным же бенефициаром по «Krontex Services LTD» в (Белиз) является афилированная «Сommonwealthe Trust Limited CTL» находящаяся на Виргинских островах и принадлежащая Дмитрию Фирташу.

Далее, удалось также отследить весь процесс лоббирования данных компаний. Именно чешский вариант, как запасной аэродром с более низким предложением цены за кубический метр газа будет проходным и наиболее выгодным для Украины, так как польская «PGNIG» продала нам газ по $1035 за куб.

В этом ракурсе Украине чешским Правительством в лице премьер-министра Чехии Андрея Бабиша и президента Чехии Милоша Земана, близких к вышеупомянутой Татьяне Поп, будет предложено для Украины цена от $800 за куб, в обмен на пассивную позицию Чехии в очередном каменно-предкновенном вопросе в ЕС ��о, якобы, «репрессиям Закарпатских Русинов». Раскачку же этих псевдо-притеснений, как мы все наблюдаем, провоцируют, как физически, так и в информационно, подконтрольные Арсену Авакову националистические организации, обеспечивая необходимый фон для дальнейших торгов и давления на руководство Украины. Закарпатская «русинка» Поп мило общается с президентом Чехии Милошем Земаном:

Татьяна Поп, очевидно, продвигает интересы Дмитрия Фирташа, мило общаясь с премьер - министром Чехии Андреем Бабишем:

Вот ее приглпшение на инагурацию Президента Чехии Милоша Земана:

Из неофициальной информации украинских спецслужб, журналистам удалось узнать о уже нажитых немалых капиталах, которыми владеет «бедная» русинка, госпожа Поп. В собственности пани Татьяны находиться дом в городе Гратц (Австрия) площадью 120 кв.м, вилла в Хорватии на берегу моря с собственной ограждённой территорией и  бассейном площадью 200 кв.м., а также, полистав профиль в социальной сети новоявленной "газовой принцессы", можно увидеть действительно вполне безбедную жизнь "светской львицы", "Мерседесы", дорогие рестораны, цветы, украшения, от своего австрийского фаворита, дом в подмосковной Рублевке, и много других интересных моментов. Поэтому суть попавшей к журналистам переписки между некими товарищами, один из которых скрывается под именем "Дмитрий Ф. Автрия", очевидно, указывает именно на Дмитрия Фирташа и Юрия Витренко, выглядит вполне логичной и доказывает совершенно обратное: а именно, - баснословные "откаты" членам правительства и руководителям крупнейних госкорпораций Украины, передаваемые в Киевском бизнесс-центре "Парус", что принадлежит "сидящему на российском газе" Фирташу, когда вся страна воюет с российским агрессором. "Мы обращаемся в НАБУ, ГПУ, к президенту Петру Порошенко и премьер-министру Украины Владимиру Гройсману принять необходимые меры к ворам из НАК «Нафтогаз України» Юрию Витренко и Андрею Коболеву, которые являются агентами Кремлевского "Газпрома" и действуют в его интересах и интересах олигарха Фирташа, вместе с его фавориткой закарпатского происхождения Татьяной Поп, а также пресечь деятельность министра МВД Арсена Авакова и его «верного пса» Илью Кивы", - резюмирует блоггер сайта "Корреспондент.Нет" от лица коллектива журналистов-расследователей.

"Украинский ФРОНТ"