Ukraine majority MP accuses top oligarchs of undermining government

Party of Regions MP Nikolai Levchenko accused Ukraine’s biggest oligarchs on Feb. 11 of subverting the administration of President Viktor Yanukovych. “The television networks have owners: (Igor) Kolomoisky, (Victor) Pinchuk, (Petro) Poroshenko, (Dmytro) Firtash. And all of them are concerned about the fate of their capital and all of them have taken a position, which is against the government. Their politics are against the government,” he told the Donetsk Oblast State Administration, the presidential administration’s representative organ. “They are lying and twisting the facts, provoking a split in order to preserve their advantages in business.”

Zenon Zawada: That such Party of Regions MPs are attacking Ukraine’s top oligarchs is a positive sign that not only do they not support the Yanukovych administration, but they don’t plan to. Indeed they have played a critical role in the EuroMaidan by allowing their journalists to report on events freely, unlike the government-controlled media, which has engaged in quite a bit of distorting and twisting on its own.

Moreover, while the pro-Western opposition has opposed federalization or a split of the country, the federalization position is openly supported by the Communist Party and numerous Party of Regions MPs. The next step for the oligarchs is to withdraw their loyal MPs from the parliamentary majority, which they began to do last week but were stopped by Yanukovych. It could happen any day.