Government paid off a debt to a billionaire
The era of peace between the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and the richest man of Ukraine Rinat Akhmetov, this is how the year 2022 began. As far as we know, the billionaire, whose fortune now stands at $7 billion (it has more than halved since the beginning of the war), is the owner of DTEK, which supplies electricity to Ukraine and beyond.
As a result of the energy produced, the state owed the businessman’s company a large amount of money and not only to this company. The state-owned company Ukrenergo, which purchased this electricity, raised a large amount of money by selling bonds to repay a debt to the national renewable energy sector, among which was DTEK. As a result, the state paid off the debt to everyone except Rinat Akhmetov’s company, which resulted in the conflict.
After some time, the company sued and demanded payment of the debt. The media said this was due to tensions between the president and the billionaire, as well as electricity prices and new restrictions for influential businessmen. And we will remind you that the businessman owns a significant part of the economy of Ukraine — metallurgy, power plants, coal mines, banks, and media assets.
Separately we want to talk about metallurgy and the Azovstal plant. This factory belongs to the billionaire and also became a symbol of the spirit and strength of the Ukrainian people because it is here that the fighters of the Azov regiment in the complete blockade of the factory and the city of Mariupol defended the Ukrainian land.
Rinat Akhmetov https://www.letemps.ch/monde/rinat-akhmetov-suis-fier-quazovstal-soit-bastion-resistance-marioupol said that he is proud of this place and that it has saved the lives of almost 1,000 people. For three months, the plant was shelled by the Russian military with tanks, rocket-propelled grenades, bombs, and missiles, but the Ukrainian military defended it until the last.
Even a year before the war, Vladimir Zelensky introduced a bill, which was called the Anti-Oligarchic Law. He meant obliging those recognized as tycoons to sell their media assets or refrain from political activities.
We will recall that Rinat Akhmetov took part in the party of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, as well as a businessman who owns a network of TV channels. Of course, Akhmetov expressed his dissatisfaction with the draft law and called himself an investor, not an oligarch. The investor also expressed his criticism in his media, highlighting the president’s bad side.
As far as we know, conflicts cannot last forever and just a few days before the war, the state has fully paid the businessman a debt of 3 billion hryvnias. Such a move suggests that both reached some consensus and lowered the tension. There is nothing better than to unite two enemies against one common — Russia. This step proved that Ukrainians are able to unite and forget about problems when trouble comes to their home.
Based on: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-zelenskiy-akhmetov-debt/31669233.html
