U.S. sanctions against Ukrainian businessman Ihor Kolomoisky marked the beginning of a big fight against corruption in Ukraine led by President Volodymyr Zelensky, as was stated by the press-secretary of the head of state Yulia Mendel in the interview for Alesa Batsman on her YouTube channel.
According to Mendel, since Zelensky is in power (less than two years), three very famous individuals representing huge financial groups, whose fortune was, unfortunately, built on the state budget, were already punished in Ukraine, including People's Deputy from the "Opposition Platform - for Life" Viktor Medvedchuk, and businessmen Dmitry Firtash and Ihor Kolomoisky.
She called the U.S. sanctions against Kolomoisky just the beginning of the big game.
"The sanctions are definite, it's more of a symbolic step that illustrates that they [the US] have evidence against him [Kolomoisky]. The word "corruption" sounds clear there. I think that's not the end yet. I think that's just the beginning," Mendel said.
Furthermore, Zelensky's press secretary reminded that all three former top managers of PrivatBank, previously owned by Kolomoisky, were accused of embezzlement of UAH 137 million in Ukraine. However, she has avoided the direct question of whether Ukrainian sanctions will be imposed against the former owner of PrivatBank and whether he will be extradited by the Ukrainian authorities at the request of the United States.
"Let's see. I'm not a fortune-teller, am I... It will be as it will be," Zelensky's spokesman said thoughtfully.
Importantly, Yulia Mendel did not specify which one of the Ukrainian oligarchs should be worrying if the attack on the Ukrainian corrupt officials continues. She only recalled how the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky has announced the possible imposition of sanctions against Medvedchuk’s TV channels back in May 2020.
"As early as his press conference on May 20, the President hinted that some TV channels should pay more attention to the purity of their funding and the purity of their journalism. It was in May 2020, and sanctions were imposed against them at the end of January 2021. All this time, no one sat idly by, we were looking for certain evidence. It is useless to look for an instrument of sanctions without evidence, it can put our actions in question considering the norms of democracy and freedom of speech," Mendel said.
As "Apostrophe" reported, on March 5, Washington announced that it had imposed sanctions on Ukrainian businessman Igor Kolomoisky and banned him from entering the country. The decision is related to the corrupt activities of the oligarch as governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region under President Viktor Yanukovych. In addition, the United States fears that Kolomoisky may “undermine democratic processes” even now.