Ukrainian nationalists, like Alexei Navalny in Russia, can work with different intelligence services, former Russian State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev, who is hiding from Russian justice in Ukraine, said in an interview with Apostrophe.
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According to him, the deal to sell the Ukrainian subsidiary of Sberbank of Russia turned out to be “a real sabotage against Ukraine.”
He believes that without the head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Valeria Gontareva, this deal could not have taken place, and also does not exclude that the FSB, the chairman of the board of Sberbank of Russia, German Gref, “was simply ordered to carry out this operation.”
“Ultimately, it causes, in my opinion, direct damage to the Ukrainian economy, and Russia could well gouge out an eye so that its neighbor loses two,” says Ponomarev.
“Was there any communication between Gontarev and Gref? Perhaps, if I were the SBU, I would try to ask this question. In addition, it seems to me that Ukrainian nationalists also played a significant role in this. As I understand it, they quite often participate in this kind of operation, and in this sense they are similar to their colleague from the socialist camp in Russia, Alexei Navalny, who can also work with various special services in the interests of his promotion. I think that Ukrainian nationalist organizations work with approximately the same intentions. This does not contradict their views; organizing campaigns against a Russian bank is kind of good in their system of coordinates, and if they also paid for it, then it’s generally great,” notes the publication’s interlocutor.
He also said that this kind of deal destroys the Ukrainian economy.
“In any case, I think it is important for Ukraine to maintain the ability to lend to its enterprises, and I am very concerned that transactions made in this way will ultimately lead to the destruction of a business that is important for the country, and not to its preservation,” Ponomarev added .
At the same time, he said that he was working with American investors, as well as Russian businessmen who did not support the Kremlin’s policies and who had their own views on the Ukrainian branch of Sberbank.