Rinat Akhmetov (Photo: Danil Shamkin/NurPhoto via Reuters) //Akhmetov's interview with The Washington Post. Pomace
On December 8, the influential American publication The Washington Post devoted a large article to Ukraine. Its name is The war curbed the Ukrainian oligarchs, creating room for democratic changeen. Rinat Akhmetov, the richest Ukrainian, became the main character.
The entrepreneur gave written answers to questions from WP journalists, for the first time shedding light on the little-known pages of his biography and outlining his own vision of economic development and the post-war future of Ukraine.</p
NV gives the most interesting fragments of the article with quotes from Akhmetov and comments from other interlocutors of the American newspaper.
Akhmetov's interview with The Washington Post. Squeeze: Childhood. A throwaway fool
Rinat Akhmetov was born in 1966, brought up in a miner's family in Donetsk, the publication recalls.
Akhmetov: I grew up in a poor family that labor to meet the needs of life. Our house was 20 square meters, there we lived four of us and slept on the floor. In the mornings, a coal stove was kindled, and the toilet was outside.
The businessman claims that a difficult childhood hardened him and shaped his future business philosophy. Since then, he has hated the poverty and suffering of people.
They say that Akhmetov had his first real success at the card table.
Sergei Taruta, a businessman from Donetsk:
strong> He was one of the five or six best card players in the Soviet Union, he went to competitions.
Akhmetov assures that this is an exaggeration. But he admitted to WP that in his early twenties he really did play a lot of throw-in fool.
Akhmetov: To be honest, I earned my first capital by playing cards. I understood the following: cards are tactics and strategy, an analytical mindset, a practical approach and the ability to win.
Crime. The story of Alik Grek
Rinat was 24 years old when Ukraine declared independence. It was a sad time, especially in the Donbass, engulfed in the struggle of local clans for power and violence, writes the American edition.
Akhmetov:The entire economy, which was then led by the government, practically stopped. I decided to invest in the industry.
In 1992, he and two partners founded a company called APC, which processed coal into coke. One of the partners was Akhat Bragin, also known as Alik the Greek. He was considered one of the most influential criminal authorities in Donetsk. Akhmetov mentions that Bragin left ARS in 1993, but they remained close friends.
This friendship gave rise to speculation in the media about the potential connections of the richest Ukrainian with criminal structures. Akhmetov won lawsuits against a number of media outlets that accused him of having a criminal record.
Akhmetov: I have never been involved in any criminal organizations, I have never been prosecuted or nominated no criminal charges against me.
Sergey Taruta: He was not a member of a criminal group, but he knew and was friends with the people who were there.
In October 1995, Bragin was killed by a bomb that exploded at the Shakhtar stadium when he arrived at a match of the football team he owned. In 2003, a man from a rival criminal group was convicted of involvement in the murder and sentenced to life in prison. But at the moment of the murder, suspicion fell on Akhmetov.
Akhmetov: This is a lie, and such a lie causes me great pain. Akhatem and I were five minutes late for the match, and without waiting for me, he ran from the car to the stadium. The gap was five seconds, no more. The explosion happened as soon as I opened the car door. When your best friend dies in front of your eyes, you realize that death was five seconds late, and after that you are accused of something, it is very painful and unfair.
…Akhmetov bought Shakhtar and turned it into a national hegemon, successfully performing in European competitions. He built a $400 million stadium in his native Donetsk, it was opened in 2009 with a Beyoncé concert.
Big privatization. Krivorozhstal, SCM. Akhmetov's interview
Second President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma actively promoted the privatization of state industry and agriculture. Akhmetov says Kuchma deserves credit for modernizing the country's economy.
Akhmetov: The government was the worst and most corrupt manager. Then large-scale privatization began in the country. Naturally, she was not perfect. But was there any other path of development other than the transition from state ownership to private ownership and from a command economy to a market economy? No, it wasn't.
The Donetsk businessman was buying up an increasing number of industrial assets, mainly in the coal and metallurgical industries.
Avdeevka metallurgical plant owned by Akhmetov's company Metinvest (Photo: REUTERS/Gleb Garanich /File Photo)
Akhmetov: I acquired most of my assets on the secondary market, that is, after they were privatized. We modernized steel production and began to conquer global markets in a fiercely competitive environment.
Then he invested in the acquisition of Dongorbank, which, in his words, became “the gateway to financial resources.”
Vladislav Rashkovan, Deputy Executive Director of the IMF from Ukraine: Akhmetov's Bank never not used as a pocket; he was just a bank. Akhmetov was smart. He structured his business as if it were a Western business.
However, the oligarchic system in Ukraine matured precisely then, writes WP. In 2004, Akhmetov and business tycoon Viktor Pinchuk paid $800 million to buy Kryvorizhstal, a state-owned company that produced about 20 percent of Ukraine's steel. Viktor Yushchenko, who was elected president after Kuchma, said that the plant » stole”, and terminated the agreement. The government put the plant up for auction on live TV and it was sold for $4.8 billion—six times the previous price—to Mittal Steel.
Viktor Yushchenko: This transaction was clearly corrupt. It was important to hold a public auction so that the Ukrainian society and foreign investors would see it as transparent and honest, and to strengthen confidence in the privatization of state assets.
In 2000, Akhmetov created System Capital Management, a holding company for many of the enterprises that he has gained. Soon, a colossus called SCM dominated the metallurgical and energy sectors of Ukraine. Akhmetov's business included agriculture, transport and other areas, including the empire of television channels and other media.
Oligarch. Denial
“Akhmetov had everything, including what he didn’t want: the label of an oligarch with all the negative meanings of the word,” WP notes.
In 2021, the sixth president, Volodymyr Zelensky, introduced a bill about deoligarchization. The persecution of the wealthy, who were despised in the country, was a politically cunning move for the president, whose ratings were falling and who was attacked by television channels owned by the oligarchs, the newspaper writes.
Sergey Leshchenko, adviser to the head of the President's Office: Zelensky is an over-ambitious person who understands that if he does not break the skeleton of this system, then the system will destroy him. They decided to compete with him. And one day Zelensky said: “Okay, are you challenging me? I accept it.”
The President signed the law adopted by the Verkhovna Rada in November 2021. An “oligarch” is defined as a person who meets at least three of four criteria: political influence, media holdings, economic monopolies, and a minimum total assets of approximately $100 million.
Akhmetov: The requirements of this law do not concern me: I left politics in 2012, long before the law came into force, and I do not plan to return… Relations with business should be regulated in a civilized way, which is observed by all developed countries, and not through populist laws. There are no oligarch laws in either the United States or the EU that allow illegal undesirable lists to be drawn up out of court. Lobbying laws apply there… I am not an oligarch. I have never been and am not going to be an oligarch. I am the largest private investor, employer and taxpayer in Ukraine.
But in the summer of 2022, the businessman announced that he was relinquishing the licenses of his media empire, including two large national TV channels. He called the reason for this step precisely the “discriminatory” law.
Viktor Andrusiv, ex-adviser to the head of the Presidential Office: This is the end of an era, the end of political culture… Oligarchs don't disappear. The main thing is to end their monopolies created through political connections. Now they will have to act more like big businessmen.
Patriot. Repentance?
On February 22, 2022, two days before the Russian invasion, Zelensky addressed the nation with a call for “economic patriotism.” Akhmetov announced that his SCM holding would prepay about $34 million in taxes to strengthen the country.
The next evening, when Ukraine's Western partners warned of an imminent Russian attack, Zelensky summoned Akhmetov and about 50 other top business leaders to his office to ask for their support. When explosions were heard in Kiev a few hours later, the businessman was asleep.
Akhmetov: My assistant burst into the room and shouted: “Wake up, the war has begun.”
He claims that he has not left Ukraine since February 24 and lives in Kyiv. In these months, he has become Ukraine's largest private donor, providing more than $100 million in military and humanitarian aid, from drones for the Armed Forces of Ukraine to food.
Some critics say Akhmetov is trying to atone for his actions in 2014 when he seemed to hesitate after Russia annexed Crimea and backed the separatists in the country's east. But, in the end, he supported Ukraine.
Daria Kaleniuk, Executive Director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center: I will start to respect him when he starts selling all his mansions in Switzerland, France and the UK and creates a fund to support the army in Ukraine.
Akhmetov: My business has suffered the most. It may not be very modest of me, but I help much more than anyone else, and I'm not going to stop.
Akhmetov and Azovstal defense hero Mikhail Dianov (Photo: System Capital Management/Facebook)
An impoverished billionaire. Ukraine — Europe
According to Forbes, Akhmetov's fortune dropped from $7.6 billion to $4.3 billion after the outbreak of a full-scale war. The greatest losses are the mines and metallurgical enterprises of Donbass, as well as the facilities of the energy company DTEK, suffering from crushing strikes from Russian missiles. The entrepreneur filed a $20 billion lawsuit against Russia with the European Court of Human Rights.
Answering a question about his vision for Ukraine after the war, he called for a “new Marshall Plan” with hundreds of billions of dollars of investment and the transformation of the country on the model of the West, not Russia.
Akhmetov: The goal is to build a new, strong and European Ukraine, a member of the EU, with strong institutions, the rule of law, clear anti-corruption rules, a democratic political system and fair treatment of citizens… Competition in the economy means the market. Competition in politics means democracy… The concentration of power leads to authoritarianism and economic decline.
Yuri Nikolov, a journalist for the Nashi Groshi website, believes that Akhmetov has a chance to restore the energy business after the war. But tougher competition will likely mean the end of his monopoly, from control of 90 percent of coal mining to rail networks that transport fossils, power plants that burn coal to generate electricity, power lines.
Yuri Nikolov: I hope that businessman Akhmetov will stay with us, and oligarch Akhmetov will not be reborn.
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