Kolomoisky submits resignation, replaced by presidential ally

Billionaire Igor Kolomoisky submitted on March 24 his resignation as head of the Dnipropetrovsk oblast state administration, which is the local representative of the Presidential Administration, the president’s website reported on March 25. President Petro Poroshenko fulfilled his request at a meeting with him, and appointed a replacement. “We are supposed to ensure peace, stability and calm,” the president’s statement said. “The Dnipropetrovsk region is supposed to remain Ukraine’s bastion on the east, providing peace and calm for its citizens.” 

Borys Filatov, an MP and Kolomoisky’s former deputy administration chair, wrote on his Facebook page on March 25 that “the dismissal occurred maximally appropriately” and that all matters would be transferred to his successor “in a maximally comfortable regime.” A public concert is being organized in Dnipropetrovsk for March 28 under the slogan, “For a United Ukraine,” during which Kolomoisky’s team will submit an annual report of its performance. Among those present will be Valentyn Reznichenko, Kolomoisky’s successor. 

Zenon Zawada: Reznichenko is a business associate to Borys Lozhkin, who heads the Presidential Administration, having worked in his . This means that either Poroshenko has cut a deal that Reznichenko will take Kolomoisky’s interests into account, or it’s the latest step in the government’s assertive campaign to reduce Kolomoisky’s influence in Ukrainian governance. 

Kolomoisky’s resignation also indicates that he’s either cut a deal with the president over Ukrnafta in exchange for his leaving government, or it’s a demarche with plans for new tactics in his conflict with the president. Even if some kind of deal has been reached, we view it as tenuous. The recent events are the second time that the conflict between Poroshenko and Kolomoisky reached a boiling point (the first being in November when prosecutors questioned Filatov). Given its acridity, it might not be the last. 

With his comments on Facebook, Kolomoisky’s close adviser Filatov has made it seem as though the conflict has been brought to a resolution. Yet the ultimate test of whether that’s true is if the dispute over Ukrnafta (UNAF UK) is resolved peacefully.