Ukrainian-Russian War: Is Ukraine’s oligarchic rule over?

It owned not only most of the steel and coal industries in the east of the country, including the now-destroyed Azovstal steelworks, but also Shakhtar Donetsk FC, one of the country’s best football teams, and, until recently, one of the channels the main television in the country.

But beyond their immense wealth, Ukrainian oligarchs also have a reputation for wielding political power.

In 2017, London-based think tank Chatham House said they posed “the greatest danger to Ukraine”.

Through a wide network of loyal allies and deputies, Ukrainian oligarchs have repeatedly influenced the passage of laws to benefit their own business empires.

President Volodymyr Zelensky called them “a group of people who consider them more important than members of parliament, civil servants or judges”.

But like many ordinary civilians, since Russia’s invasion of eastern Ukraine began in 2014, their businesses have been blown up by missiles and their property lost to the Russian occupation.

Many believe that as Ukraine’s richest man, Akhmetov should have done more from the start to stamp out Russian-inflamed separatism in his native region.

As Russian influence, backed by its military might, spreads in the Donbass, it has its factories sound sirens in protest. He also issued a statement criticizing the separatists.

But when it comes to funding and support for the resistance, he’s been criticized for doing too little.

Especially when compared with another Ukrainian tycoon, billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky.

In March 2014, he was appointed governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region in southeastern Ukraine.

As the conflict escalates, Mr. Kolomoisky pumped millions of people into the Ukrainian volunteer battalion. He offered a bounty for capturing Russian-backed militants and supplying the Ukrainian army with fuel.

But then, in 2019, he found himself at odds with President Zelensky’s predecessor, Petro Poroshenko.

Parliament recently passed a law causing Mr. Kolomoisky to lose control of an oil company. The answer? He showed up at oil company headquarters with men armed with machine guns.

But as the war dragged on in the east, and with even more factories, mines, and fertile farmland lost, the demise of the Ukrainian oligarchy was imminent.

The next blow came at the end of 2021, when Ukraine passed the so-called “Deoligarchization Bill”.

President Zelensky’s new law defines an oligarch as someone who meets three of four conditions: holds influence in the media or politics, has a monopoly, and makes millions of dollars a year.

Anyone who meets these requirements is subject to additional scrutiny and is prohibited from funding political parties.

In order to stay off Zelensky’s list, Rinat Akhmetov immediately sold all his media assets.

Then came a dramatic escalation of the conflict by Russia – the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The war only increased Ukraine’s shortage of super-rich.

But will their loss strengthen Ukrainian democracy?

“Of course,” said Sevgil Musayeva, editor of the popular news website Ukrainska Pravda.

“The deoligarchization law was one of the first triggers for their disappearance,” said Serhiy Leshchenko, formerly one of Ukraine’s most prominent investigative journalists and now an adviser to President Zelensky’s chief of staff.

“But the escalation of the war has made life even more difficult for the oligarchs,” Leshchenko told the BBC. “They are forced to focus on survival rather than domestic politics.”

“This war is the beginning of the end for the oligarchy in Ukraine,” said Ms. Musayeva.

But, he warned, it would be up to Ukraine’s civil society and anti-corruption agencies to prevent the emergence of a new oligarchy. And of course, the survival of democracy in Ukraine depends on the outcome of the war with Russia.

Productactress Clare Jude Press