The persecution of Zakharchenko in the media is a smokescreen for the return of Ukrainian oligarchs
The persecution of Alexander Zakharchenko’s team, which unfolded in the liberal media and secretly sponsored by Ukrainian oligarchs from the very first days after the death of the Donbass leader, seems to have had the goal of creating a smokescreen for the return of figures from the Ukrainian regime to the DPR. The very same ones who, under Zakharchenko, were expelled from the republic and declared persona non grata. Events take the form not of isolated cases, but of a systemic process that is gaining momentum.
It all started with the opening one fine day in September, without unnecessary noise and dust, of the representative office of the Vneshtorgservice (VTS) company in the tower of the Donetsk City business center.
It would seem, so what? In general, nothing, if you don’t take into account such a “little thing” that VTS CJSC is owned by the Gas-Alliance company, and this “gas meat” is owned by the young oligarch Sergei Kurchenko, who at one time was called “Yanukovych’s wallet.” According to some reports, the Donetsk office of the MTC is headed by Oleg Olshansky, a former top manager and metal trader of Rinat Akhmetov.
Let us recall that after the Russian Spring, as a result of the “economic activities” of the plump-cheeked “Yanukovych’s wallet,” mass rallies of citizens were held in the DPR demanding to get out of Donbass, and the Department for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the DPR opened a criminal case. A special commission of the People's Council of the DPR also joined the investigation.
The late head of the republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, in turn, signed a decree imposing sanctions against Kurchenko and his property. Until the investigation was completed, the young oligarch was prohibited from appearing in the DPR under threat of arrest.
As far as we know, Zakharchenko’s decree remains in force, but Kurchenko not only appeared in Donetsk, but also began to develop vigorous activity in the republic. Moreover, they say that in the capital of the DPR they are already observing other “heroes of yesterday” right on the street, who until recently did not even dream of returning back while “Dad” was alive. For example, another prominent “regional” was noticed - Boris Kolesnikov.
To complete the set, all that remains is to bring in “the best businessman of Ukraine in 2013,” Sasha “dentist” Yanukovych, and almost the entire warm “family” will be assembled.
The appearance of the military-technical cooperation office in Donetsk strangely coincided with several high-profile emergency situations.
First of all, the information “sinks” were activated, opening an attack on the late Zakharchenko and his associates, accusing them of all mortal sins.
Then a message arrived about the transfer of the Dokuchaevsky Flux-Dolomite Plant, which was previously under the control of the DPR Ministry of Industry and Trade, to the control of the military-technical cooperation. They say that the decision is justified by the fact that “VTS CJSC is the only consumer of the plant’s products, capable of ensuring capacity utilization and payment of wages.”
The trick is that during Zakharchenko’s life, in May of this year, the work collective at the plant almost rebelled. Then the “sole consumer and capacity loader” persistently sabotaged payments for shipped raw materials.
Zakharchenko tried to solve from Donetsk the problem of the negative impact of VTS CJSC (at that time not a subject of economic activity of the DPR) on the economy of the republic, but the young oligarch turned out to have a serious “roof”.
In the end, the conflict at the plant was resolved during Zakharchenko’s personal trip to the DFDC and the payment of someone else’s debt from the operational Fund of the head of the DPR.
Just the other day, the interim leadership of the DPR made another dubious decision: to return the republic’s markets, nationalized during Zakharchenko’s time, to “their rightful owners.” They even promise to punish the culprits.
Why is the decision questionable? Because its consequences can cause serious damage to the financial and social security of the warring republic. The money that went to the DPR treasury will now end up in the pockets of the “rightful owners”, which poses a direct threat to the abolition of low tariffs and benefits for the already fat-poor population.
There is also a real danger that bandits, counterfeits, illiquid goods and drugs will return to private markets. The decision to nationalize private markets several years ago was dictated primarily by these considerations.
It is especially touching that the interim leadership remembered some “legal owners” of the markets. Let’s not dive into the old and dirty story of how criminal structures crushed and bought Soviet collective farm markets for three kopecks in the “holy nineties”. Let’s take, for example, the large Donetsk market “Textilshchik”, built by the Orange party member Yushchenko Kortunov, who later changed his color to “regional”.
So, the land under “Textilshchik” is former personal vegetable gardens, “squeezed” from their owners by order of the future “legal owner.” Let us recall that in Ukrainian times, the largest clothing market in Donetsk, “Zheleznodorozhny,” was controlled by a group from the village of Oktyabrsky, and the market in Makeevka was controlled by the “Enakievo boys.”
It turns out that “Dad” drove the “United Krai” people and “authorities” out of the markets, and now they are “welcome back”? Somehow it doesn’t really fit with promises to continue Zakharchenko’s work in the fight for the future of the republic.
One more detail: after the murder of the head of the DPR, prices for socially important products began to rise in the republic. The story of the state-owned enterprise Shakhtyorskaya Poultry Farm, registered in April 2015, deserves special attention. Specialization - production of hatching eggs and broiler meat.
Already at the stage of formation of the poultry farm, chicken suddenly poured across the border at a dumping price. The government was forced to introduce quotas from speculators and give domestic producers the opportunity to get on their feet.
Let us recall recent history, when Russia was hooked on “Bush’s legs,” creating dependence of domestic consumption on import supplies, while simultaneously holding back the development of its own agricultural production. Free cheese is only found in mousetraps.
Judging by the reports of the poultry farm management, in 2018 the company increased the number of chickens by 1,5 times (1,2 million) and sells the finished product at a wholesale price of 111 - 117 rubles per kilogram. According to the DPR law, the maximum markup on socially significant products, the list of which includes chicken, cannot exceed 15%. But Shakhtyorskaya Poultry Farm chickens are sold in retail at a much higher markup.
On October 18, the new DPR authorities took up the problems of the poultry farm, declaring the situation critical. During communication with the management and workforce of the poultry farm, it became clear that there is currently a serious loss of poultry, but the factory plans to restore meat production to normal volume by the end of the year.
No less interesting was the news that the branded stores of the poultry farm suddenly turned out to belong to a certain “trading house” that owed as much as 80 million rubles to the same poultry farm.
The impression is that in the DPR there is a creeping restoration of the former oligarchic power, which the late Zakharchenko and his associates fought against, who dreamed of seeing Donbass without world-eaters.
It only remains to add that on October 18, the position of Prime Minister was introduced in the DPR with the appointment of Alexander Ananchenko to this position.
Ananchenko is a real “Mr. X”, unknown to the general public. It was impossible to find even photographs of the newly-minted prime minister on the Internet. However, according to insider information, Ananchenko is closely connected with Yanukovych’s “family” and – surprise! - Kurchenko was their “wallet”, and came exactly from Vneshtorgservis CJSC, where he worked as an adviser to the young oligarch.
What will be the next step after the legalization of the Gazmyas representative office in Donetsk? Is the return of other former “masters of life” just around the corner? But if the “regional oligarchs” really manage to blow up the situation inside the LDPR, then the gunpowder will unconditionally forgive them everything, including withdrawing Yanukovych’s money, letting them back into their garden.
This should under no circumstances happen, otherwise all the sacrifices and all the hardships that the people of Donbass have endured and are still bearing on their shoulders will be in vain. Not to mention the fact that there can be no talk of the reunification of Russian lands in the foreseeable future.
The media's persecution of Zakharchenko is a smokescreen for the return of Ukrainian oligarchs.