​Fight between Kolomoisky and state turns ugly

The standoff between Kyiv’s authorities and Dnipropetrovsk Governor Igor Kolomoisky is making a farce of the gains of the revolution a year ago that ousted the former corrupt president and his cronies, and is aiding the Russian cause of destabilization of the nation.

On March 23, accusations of involvement with organized crime became the latest twist in the oligarch saga.

Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, head of Ukraine’s Security Service loyal to President Petro Poroshenko, suspects that Dnipropetrovsk Oblast deputy governors Gennady Korban and Svyatoslav Oliynyk are involved in an organized crime ring responsible for abducting law enforcement officials, a claim which would implicate Kolomoisky at least indirectly because the people named are close to him.

Both men said the accusations were not true, and Olinyk said on his Facebook page that he was planning to sue Nalyvaichenko for libel.

Nalyvaichenko also said that six suspects in the murder of Security Service officer Dmytro Manzyk earlier this month had been detained in Dnipropetrovsk, the region Kolomoisky has a tight grip on.

“I don’t understand whether it’s a political case or some kind of bacchanalia,” Borys Filatov, a member of parliament and a long-time ally of Kolomoisky, told the Kyiv Post.

Volodymyr Fesenko of the Penta think tank says that the accusations are a part of an “information war” between Poroshenko and Kolomoisky, a way of discrediting the Dnipropetrovsk governor. He ruled out the idea that it would escalate into a real war, however.

“A rational way out of this conflict would be to avoid a real war, which would be a gift for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” he said.

Kolomoisky’s fight for assets

The accusation came a day after Kolomoisky dispatched dozens of private, armed security guards to block the entrance to the building of oil company Ukrnafta and erect an iron fence around it.

Kolomoisky’s Privat Group holds 42 percent in Ukrnafta, while state-owned Naftogaz owns 50 percent plus one share. He also has interests in banking, media and steel, among other industries.

The dramatic arrival of guards followed the parliament’s passage of a bill on March 19 to reduce the quorum at state-controlled joint-stock companies’ shareholder meetings to 50 percent from 60 percent, and thus deprive Kolomoisky of de facto control over the state oil extractor.

On the same day, the government moved to oust the manager of Ukrtransnafta, a state-owned oil transportation company, which was controlled by a Kolomoisky ally. The oligarch responded by showing up at the office with a group of armed men. Both times, he showed up in person and claimed he was trying to “protect” the companies from raidership.

A private army

The ease with which Kolomoisky has been able to rally together large groups of armed men to “protect” both Ukrnafta and Ukrtransnafta has raised fears about him having too much influence over volunteer battalions he helped to set up last spring, when the Russian-backed offensive in eastern Ukraine started.

His generous sponsorship of volunteer battalions, as well as his iron grip on the situation in the region, have been credited with staving off pro-Russian separatism in his native Dnipropetrovsk region, as well as Zaporizhya and other regions in the south-east of Ukraine.

Last week, Kolomoisky said that he could bring 2,000 fighters to Kyiv to protect both Ukrtransnafta and Ukrnafta.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said that the armed men outside the companies’ offices were actually private guards, and all of the volunteer battalions were accounted for at the front lines. “None of the private security companies, according to the laws of Ukraine, has the right to carry weapons,” Avakov said on his Facebook page.

Poroshenko also said: “We won’t have any governors with their own pocket armed forces” on March 23.

Alexei Makarkin, deputy head of the Moscow-based think tank Center for Political Technologies, said these are all indications that Kolomoisky no longer has as much leverage as he used to have, and may be facing an ouster.

“For the Ukrainian authorities, the importance of battalions financed by Kolomoisky has fallen significantly; the more capable of these battalions have already been integrated into the official forces … So I wouldn’t exclude the possibility that Kolomoisky will have to abandon his post [as governor] some time soon, though he will likely remain in politics, thanks to those lawmakers who are loyal to him,” Makarkin said.

Won’t go down without a fight

But Kolomoisky has already made it clear that he will put up a fight to keep a grip on both his assets and the region. A group of deputies who support the governor have called for a public rally in Dnipropetrovsk at 6 p.m. on Wednesday — a call that sounds eerily similar to earlier ones that sparked separatist movements in other parts of Ukraine.

Asked by France 24 TV channel whether separatism was possible in Dnipropetrovsk on March 24, Kolomoisky said: “I don’t want that… but anything can happen.”