Oligarch and businessman Ihor Kolomoiskyi, who is associated with the newly elected President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, on the night of May 16, 2019 returned to Ukraine. It is noteworthy that he has not been in the country since June 2017, preferring to live first in Switzerland and then - in Israel. Political expert of the International Centre for Policy Studies Ihor Petrenko expressed to "Apostrophe" his opinion – he believes that the return of Ihor Kolomoiskyi right confirms that the influence of the oligarch on Volodymyr Zelensky is not so strong, and he needs to independently control certain processes, in particular, increasing pressure on the formation of the team of the new President and the Presidential Administration.
As a matter of fact, he could do it from Tel Aviv, but this is a complication of communication. So, let's say, he can come to the meeting with Zelensky, and otherwise it is necessary for somebody to go by plane, it is superfluous. And not all issues can be discussed on the phone. Therefore, I think that the need to strengthen his position just emphasizes the fact that Zelensky is not 100% dependent on Kolomoiskyi.
In addition, he flooded a lot of media space with different statements, some of his thoughts and so on. As for me, if the whole thing is taped, if the person controls everything, it isn't necessary "to attack" someone with media-statements as it happened with Kobolev. This just shows that the position of Kolomoiskyi is not so strong. It is strong, but not decisive.
Also he understands that now there are big conversations concerning repartition, reformatting of different spheres of influence, monopolies and so on. His presence and ability to negotiate, communicate with people is the key to the success of his group and the possibility of obtaining some benefit in a particular area. Meanwhile, the main dialogue is conducted between the oligarchs who are now in Ukraine - Akhmetov, Pinchuk, Levochkin, Firtash. Therefore Kolomoiskyi strengthens his team, and his presence is also an opportunity to influence the political forces.
Perhaps, he feels that he is losing control because Andrii Bohdan was really to be suspended. Firstly, because of the odiousness, and secondly - because he get cocky and, obviously, puts himself on a par with the President and his immediate entourage. He actually directly says that he is the only person who knows how to govern the country and that everything will collapse without him. Once there was a try to suspend him, but then he returned to the orbit, and already in the first negotiations with the heads of parliamentary parties Andrii Bohdan was next to Zelensky. That is, there is a positional struggle between different groups of influence in the orbit of Zelensky himself.
Kolomoiskyi wants to strengthen his position on the formation of the environment of Zelensky. Now there is a struggle for the formation of the stuff of those bodies, the appointment of which depends solely on the Presidential Administration – the National Security and Sefense Council, the Foreign Intelligence Service. This is due to the fact that the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the General Staff, the Security Service of Ukraine are directly dependent on the appointment of the President, without any coordination with the Cabinet and Parliament.
But the Ministers, the Prosecutor General, the Head of the National Bank – those are the positions that require approval from the Verkhovna Rada. This will be the next stage.
Obviously, now there are negotiations on the distribution of different areas of business. There were some agreements with Poroshenko, now there is a window of opportunity to move someone somewhere and distribute different markets.
Now he has absolutely nothing to watch out for. Now he understands that Poroshenko has already lost his influence.
As to the assumptions, whether Kolomoiskyi can apply for any official position - I think, he won't go for it. 2015 was enough for him. He just doesn't need it. To be a civil servant means, first of all, to be in the plain sight. He just can also be public being an oligarch, a rich man and a businessman. Now he will also be interviewed, and he will be quite interesting to everybody.
All oligarchs like to work in the shadows rather than to be public.
