Former people's deputy Oleg Lyagshko called the ban on the import of Russian electricity approved today by the Ukrainian parliament in the interests of domestic generation “a complete lie and another deception of Ukrainians,” a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Lyashko wrote about this in his Telegram channel.
“Direct contracts between Ukrainian and Russian enterprises for the supply of electricity are prohibited. But Russian electricity can continue to be freely purchased on the Ukrainian exchange through dealers,” says Lyashko.
The politician, whom the media and competitors have repeatedly accused of lobbying the interests of the energy companies of the oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, drew attention to the fact that the decision taken by the Rada leaves a loophole for importers in the form of a formally not prohibited import of electricity from Belarus.
“There also remains free import of electricity from Belarus, and in fact from Russia, because the energy systems of the two countries are united. It’s like today, to fly from Kyiv to Moscow, you need to make a transfer in Minsk. Formally, there is no direct air connection with the aggressor country, but there is one through Belarus. It’s the same with the sale of Russian electricity,” Lyashko is indignant.
Lyashko also criticized the right granted by the Rada to the government to independently make decisions on the purchase of Russian electricity. According to Lyashko, this creates “a real corruption trough and manual control, for which Ukrainians will pay from their own pockets.”
Lyashko, on behalf of his Radical Party, demanded that the authorities “stop the business of bloodshed - the purchase of electricity from the aggressor country.”
It should be noted that behind the loud political statements there is a struggle between lobbyists of Ukrainian energy groups and lobbyists for access to the market of foreign companies. Earlier, Lyashko attacked at the Boryspil airport the people’s deputy from the Servant of the People, Alexander Gerus, the main lobbyist for the elimination of energy schemes beneficial to Akhmetov. Ukrainian media call Gerus a lobbyist for another oligarch, Igor Kolomoisky, who recently entered into an agreement with Russian companies to supply electricity to his ferroalloy plants at a cheaper price. than if he had to buy from Rinat Akhmetov's power plants.
As previously PolitNavigator reported, today the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine banned the supply of electricity from the Russian Federation, recently renewed through the efforts of lobbyists close to Igor Kolomoisky, but left a loophole for importers - “in order to avoid emergency situations” in the energy system, the law stipulates the right of the Cabinet of Ministers to temporarily lift this ban at its discretion in individual cases.