Kolomoisky supporting Grytsenko candidacy for president

Billionaire oligarch Igor Kolomoisky said in an
interview published on Nov. 20 he is supporting former Defense Minister
Anatoliy Grytsenko’s candidacy for Ukrainian president. “By the way, we are in
favor of Grytsenko’s ratings improving,” Kolomoisky told journalist Sonia
Koshkina. “I believe that Petro Oleksiyevych (Poroshenko) should be in sixth
place. Therefore, Grytsenko should be among those who end up in third or fourth
place. We are in favor of his ratings being maximally high so that he qualifies
for the next parliament.”

Zenon Zawada: It’s not
clear what form Kolomoisky’s support for Grytsenko will take, but it usually
means financing and access to news media. In which case, Kolomoisky is
supporting three of the five leading presidential candidates against
Poroshenko. Comedian Voloymyr Zelenskiy and former PM Yulia Tymoshenko are also
widely recognized to be backed by Kolomoisky.

Yet Kolomoisky might be overplaying his hand in
supporting so many candidates. Rather than overtaking Poroshenko, these
candidates could merely water down the opposition vote against him, paving his
path to the second-round runoff. In his remarks, Kolomoisky acknowledges that
Grytsenko is unlikely to become president and he’s preparing to have influence
in parliament. In this sense, his approach is effective, mimicking what other
billionaires have done, most notably Rinat Akhmetov.