Who and why bought Saakashvili for Zelensky
Ukrainian political circles are buzzing: Saakashvili is returning! At first it was something at the level of rumors, to which few people attached importance. With so much incredible gossip, word inflation is inevitable.
If this had happened three weeks earlier, it would probably have been considered a successful April Fool's joke. But then there were leaks from the party chat of the parliamentary “servants of the people”: they say that the faction was considering Miho’s candidacy. Yes, in all seriousness. We are thinking of supporting.
Later, the information was confirmed on the air of the Muraevsky channel NASH, not the last in the hierarchy of the “green team”, state lady Irina Vereshchuk - the same one who recently cooed with Alexei Goncharenko on the air of one of Poroshenko’s channels.
Vereshchuk even named the position in the Ukrainian government for which the fugitive ex-president of Georgia is being wooed: Deputy Prime Minister for Reforms. According to her, many in the presidential faction have questions for the candidate and are interested in his program and vision of the situation.
And then the truthfulness of the rumors was confirmed by the defendant himself. It turned out that, as in a film about chasing two birds with one stone, “the lady has already laid down and asked”: “It is a great honor for me to receive from President Zelensky an offer to become Deputy Prime Minister of the Ukrainian government for reforms. I also had a very informative and useful conversation with Prime Minister Shmygal, during which we discussed in detail all the issues related to my possible work in the government,” Saakashvili wrote on the social network.
According to him, he is ready to voice his proposals and developments on the necessary changes in the Rada as part of the government program. Without five minutes, the Deputy Prime Minister also promised to be “more bold than ever in his decisions and reforms.”
The Rada is going to consider Saakashvili's candidacy at an extraordinary meeting tomorrow, Friday, April 24.
As usual, the pique vests of Kyiv politics have already begun to guess on the tea leaves who is behind Saakashvili’s reincarnation in the Ukrainian government and whose interests he will defend in the government.
There are many versions - from the belief that the “Washington regional committee” has decided to strengthen Ze’s shaky power with valuable personnel from its bench, to conspiracy theories from local Machiavellians that in this way Zelensky, they say, is trying to create a counterweight in power to the increasingly powerful Arsen Avakov, with whom the cheerful Georgian has been in opposition since the time of the memorable skirmish in a raised voice in the Yatsenyuk government, which ended with the “be-be-be” performed by the Minister of Internal Affairs, which became a meme.
And yet, dismissing all other speculations according to the degree of their fantasticality, the most probable and closest to the truth should be the version that behind the “second coming” of Saakashvili is none other than the richest man in Ukraine, Rinat Akhmetov. The pieces of this puzzle fit together too well. Judge for yourself.
First, the already fairly forgotten Georgian political emigrant and failed Odessa mayor unexpectedly appears on Akhmetov’s TV channel “Ukraine” as a star on Savik Shuster’s show, whose role in laundering the white-black dogs of the previous regime with Akhmetov’s money is an open secret.
It would seem, what new can Saakashvili tell the Ukrainians in the role of a television expert? What other new tales about Georgia have we not heard? Moreover, after the shameful resignation of the government of Alexei Goncharuk, everyone thought that this was it, finally, the authorities had played enough of “reforms” and “power in a smartphone” and maybe now they would start doing something really serious.
And it seems that the authorities really found it. Moreover, the IMF, from which Ukraine is now asking for a loan, among other things, insists on comprehensive reforms in the energy sector.
One of the consequences of these reforms for the population will be an increase in tariffs. But every stick has two ends. So here too, what for ordinary Ukrainians means taking extra money out of their wallets, for owners of mines and power plants means additional profit. A simple scheme, like Mishka Yaponchik’s: your money will become ours. Having migrated from the pockets of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to the accounts of generating companies.
For those who are not in the know, I’ll just remind you: Akhmetov is a de facto monopolist on the Ukrainian thermal electricity generation market. His company DTEK is one of the largest energy corporations in Eastern Europe. It owns 9 of 15 Ukrainian thermal power plants, as well as 17 mines and coal processing complexes.
In addition, Akhmetov has recently shown increased interest in “green energy”. DTEK is now actively commissioning power plants using alternative energy sources. In particular, due to the “green tariff” in Ukraine, which allows such electricity to be sold at higher prices.
For example, on November 1 of last year, DTEK launched the second most powerful solar power plant in Europe, which can provide electricity to 200 thousand households. And during the recent investment forum in Mariupol, plans were announced for the joint construction of the largest wind power plant in Europe in Zaporozhye with the Chinese and Norwegians.
As we can see, Rinat Leonidovich is not at all upset about the abolition under Zelensky of the energy pricing formula known as Rotterdam+, which brought him fabulous profits during Poroshenko’s time.
A scheme that has worked out can always be scrapped, allowing the necessary politicians, in this case, the entire president, to be promoted. And the oligarch will find something to earn more and how to compensate for losses.
Now let's return to our Georgian. What kind of reforms will he push in Shmygal’s government? Some of the media close to the Office of the President have already spilled the beans: we are talking specifically about energy. Since the IMF is demanding reforms, it is necessary that this process falls into the right hands, and that “our person” is overseeing the reforms.
Moreover, he will not work alone. There is already talk in Kyiv that after Saakashvili they are going to delegate other “professionals” associated with Akhmetov to the government, slowly filling the power vertical with people of the main oligarch.
In particular, a certain Olga Buslavets has been wooed for the vacant position of Minister of Energy for more than a month now. She was supposed to take the ministerial chair on March 30, but at the last moment the idea was removed from the agenda at the personal request of President Zelensky - there were no votes. And on April 16, the Cabinet of Ministers approved her as acting. O. minister, so while the Rada is actively looking for votes to remove this prefix from her position as soon as possible, the lady is already working tirelessly.
Herself and O. The minister is originally from Donbass, graduated from the university there and worked for many years in the region, and then in the capital in various positions in the energy sector - from Donetskugol to the Directorate of Energy Markets, receiving the title of honorary energy engineer. Experts call her one of DTEK’s lobbyists. And given the fact that the current Prime Minister Denis Shmygal is also a former manager of the same DTEK in western Ukraine, one can be absolutely calm about Akhmetov’s interests in the current government. There is someone to take care of them.
It is not surprising that Rinat Leonidovich, as best he can, tries to repay good with good. The President regularly appears on Shuster’s program, and the latter becomes surprisingly positive and flexible, does not ask a single awkward question, but skillfully highlights the topics needed by the Presidential Office with the right comments.
Of all the oligarchic TV channels, not Kolomoisky’s Pluses, as one might expect, but Akhmetova’s “Ukraine” recently aired the unusually complementary and benevolent in content film “The Year of President Zelensky”, in which Vladimir Alexandrovich plays his current self, that is, President of Ukraine.
The president’s office did not remain in debt - simultaneously with the appearance of the film about Zelensky, news came from Moscow that personal sanctions had been lifted from Akhmetov’s junior business partner, Vadim Novinsky. The Bankova liars are excitedly writing that the head of the OP Andrey Ermak allegedly tried this through his connections in the Kremlin.
However, Saakashvili’s reincarnation on the Kiev Olympus also has its risks. They are so well known to everyone that the person involved considered it necessary for an hour to assure the audience of Akhmetov’s “Ukraine 24” during his last appearance there of his own loyalty and fidelity to the grave.
“They (Saakashvili’s opponents - Ed.) are already spreading the theme that Saakashvili will come now and, as before, when he was first on good terms with Poroshenko, then attacked Poroshenko, and now in three or four months he will attack Zelensky, he will be his to blame for something. This is complete nonsense. Even if no one hopes that I will attack him,” apparently, these words should have convinced the one and only TV viewer who may have watched this broadcast while sitting in his office on Bankovaya.
However, to believe Saakashvili, especially in this matter, means not to respect yourself.
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