Ukraine’s leaders have closed ranks and vowed that a bruising conflict with one of the country’s richest “oligarchs” will not trigger a power struggle between business clans or allow Russian-backed militants to seize more territory in the east.
Allies of billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky – whom president Petro Poroshenko removed as governor of the strategically vital Dnipropetrovsk region last week – also struck a conciliatory note at a "farewell" rally in the province on Saturday.
Mr Kolomoisky was replaced after allegedly ordering gunmen to occupy the Kiev base of two energy companies, over which he lost great influence under a new law on the rights of minority shareholders.
The tycoon denied being behind the armed raids, but Mr Poroshenko and government ministers condemned the action as the kind of "gangsterism" that last year's pro-western, anti-corruption revolution in Ukraine sought to end.
Raised alarms
The showdown between national leaders and Mr Kolomoisky raised alarm in Ukraine and among its western allies, as the billionaire was instrumental in preventing separatists gaining a foothold in Dnipropetrovsk.
As neighbouring Donetsk became the stronghold of pro-Moscow militants in a conflict that has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced 1.5 million, Mr Kolomoisky made his province a bastion of pro-government power, funding a powerful battalion of volunteer fighters to defend it and serve in eastern regions.
“Above all, I don’t want this to look like a conflict within the authorities. I won’t allow that, as president of the country,” Mr Poroshenko said.
He said the main task of Ukraine’s leaders was to achieve the “de-oligarchisation” of the country – even though he himself is a billionaire owner of a confectionary company.
“If we are trying to create order in the country, then they are creating chaos . . . I will not stand for that,” Mr Poroshenko said, without naming which tycoons he had in mind.
“This is not at all about certain names. Government decisions must be implemented . . . We will not allow any further repeat of chaos – not in Kiev or in any other city.”
Crackdown
The removal of Mr Kolomoisky coincided with an intensification of a broader crackdown on corruption, which saw two senior officials arrested during a cabinet meeting for suspected graft.
The moves are part of an effort by Kiev's leaders to clean up politics and business that is strongly backed by the European Union and United States, which are giving major financial and diplomatic support to Ukraine. "There are no cracks between the president and premier. Recent events in the country show that we work as one team," Ukraine's prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said yesterday.
“What’s happened recently . . . shows that when you fight with this mafia, what it does is search for support in parliament, the media, fights personally with me and the government . . . I think we are on the one correct path – it’s the last chance for Ukraine, and we will take it.”
At a rally attended by thousands of people in Dnipropetrovsk, Mr Kolomoisky’s allies defended his record but pledged to support the new governor and Ukraine’s leaders.