“Akhmetov’s nerves are losing. Fleeing abroad would be justified"

Donetsk - Kyiv, May 23 (Navigator, Kirill Boyarin, Artemy Glazunov) - Rinat Akhmetov, having condemned the supporters of the “Russian Spring” in the Donbass, made serious enemies for himself - now functionaries and supporters of the Donetsk Republic vying with each other to brand the oligarch as a traitor, predicting expulsion and confiscation for him steamship factories for the benefit of the people.

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The symbolic strike announced by Rinat Akhmetov in support of the Ukrainian Donbass, which the Kyiv media clung to, in fact turned out to be nothing, DPR government member Miroslav Rudenko tells Navigator.

“It seems to me that Akhmetov’s actions turned out to be extremely ineffective, because there was no special public support. We saw: at the Donbass Arena there were a very small number of participants in such an announced and promoted event. In general, people do not want to participate in such ostentatious actions. As far as I know, Akhmetov has now left Donbass, and this is understandable, because now the main sentiments of people towards the oligarchs and those who support the Kyiv junta are negative. Now the issue of nationalizing the enterprises of the oligarchs who supported the Kyiv junta is being considered, but this is not a one-time process,” says Miroslav Rudenko.

“His demarche with which he spoke suggests that Akhmetov’s nerves are losing. After the fact, after the referendum, when people had already voted, he decided on an ill-considered move, which, moreover, also turned out to be ineffective. The people of Donbass have already demonstrated their will, and going against them is at least unwise. The nationalization of its enterprises is inevitable for objective reasons. Even if we do not take into account the will of individual DPR leaders, the very fact that Akhmetov monopolized everything around him a priori presupposed nationalization. One person cannot be at the center of everything. Of course, in the current conditions, his flight abroad would be justified,” says Donetsk political scientist Sergei Baryshnikov.

“As was shown at the last referendum, the overwhelming majority of Donbass residents are in favor of living separately, not under the rule of the fascist junta. This explains the fact that Akhmetov’s statement about condemning the separatists will not have support among the residents of Donbass.

Here it is worth clarifying another point. Rinat Akhmetov has such a resource as money. And with the help of such a resource you can influence public opinion. Akhmetov, using his resource, can use the media to broadcast that he is supported in Donetsk, although this will never correspond to reality,” says one of the leaders of the left-wing Borotba movement, Alexei Albu.

Information about Akhmetov’s emergency departure abroad is also commented on by other interlocutors in Donetsk.

“The announced strike showed Akhmetov’s complete fiasco. The people were so disgusted with these oligarchs that even under the threat of being fired from their jobs, people did not come out to these actions. Even in the 30-seat sports palace there were only 200 fans. All this speaks to the size of his support. He himself understood this and fled safely abroad. Everything suggests that the people have stopped being afraid of the oligarchs,” says Natalya Bilotserkovskaya, leader of the Donetsk regional organization of the Russian Bloc.

“It’s generally nonsense when an oligarch declares a strike on behalf of the workers. I understand when the opposite happens. Such strikes have no prospects, because only a certain part of people participate in them, who are afraid of losing their jobs and are ready to take some short-term exits. But, of course, this has no political significance, because it is futile,” says Donetsk political scientist Roman Manekin.

However, he is one of those who considers the idea of ​​confiscating Akhmetov’s assets as a last resort.

“As for Akhmetov’s departure abroad, this is an understandable step, but I would advocate maintaining the existing infrastructure, because this is already an established mechanism. Otherwise, you will have to rebuild everything anew, with new people, and this is a big and labor-intensive job. It would be better if Rinat took an adequate position, it would be less painful. On the other hand, his reaction caused great relief among the masses of Donetsk residents, because now there was an excellent reason to get rid of the wildest pressure from Akhmetov,” Manekin clarifies.

“Those whom Rinat Akhmetov calls separatists are citizens of Ukraine just like him, they just have their own opinion on the further development of the state. I note that these “separatists” have already given an answer to Akhmetov, in which they said that he is in vain to consider himself the center of the universe and the master of Donbass. In response to Akhmetov’s statements that the separatists did not create any jobs in Donbass, they asked the businessman a rhetorical question: how many jobs did he create, and how much did he take from Donbass? There will be no understanding between them. You need to understand that businessmen are always not sincere, as they are forced to adapt,” comments TV presenter Grigory Kvasnyuk.