Unrests escalate in Mariupol, Metinvest asks Kyiv to divert its forces

A new hot spot appeared on the map of the Donetsk region on May 9. A group of terrorists, who had earlier occupied the city hall in Mariupol, attacked police station there. The head of the Mariupol police was kidnapped and he was reportedly freed on May 11 being in serious condition. Head of traffic police of the city was reportedly killed in the attack. The Ukrainian army has begun an anti-terrorist operation (ATO) in Mariupol on May 9. According to Ukraine’s Internal Affairs Minister Arsen Avakov, 20 terrorists were killed and four were arrested as a result of the ATO. Four losses were on the side of local police and ATO participants, according to Ukraine’s Defense Minister. According to information from the Donetsk regional administration, nine people were killed (it is not clear, who are they) and 42 were wounded that day. Later the same day, Ukrainian forces left Mariupol to avoid casualties, as many of Mariupol’s citizens entered the streets to support the terrorists. A Mariupol-based National Guard unit also left the city for safety reasons. Series of pogroms and looting were observed in the city after the army left, according to Inter TV channel report.

Metinvest (METINV) which is the key employer in Maruipol as it controls two of the three biggest enterprises there, Azovstal (AZST UK) and Illich Seel (MMKI UK), has called on the Ukrainian government “to abandon bloody methods of cleansing Mariupol and other cities of Donbass” in its May 10 statement. “We believe that the Ukrainian army and other armed men must immediately leave the city”, the letter signed by CEOs of Metinvest and two Maruipol-based steel plants stated. Metinvest employees would organize “people’s squads” which together with “municipal militia” would protect the city from bandits, which are active there. “Possibilities of peaceful negotiations are not yet exhausted”, according to the letter.

Metinvest’s letter was criticized by the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration Serhiy Pashynskiy. He stated on May 11 that meeting the demands of Metinvest top-managers will not stabilize the situation in Donbass, and it will “extend this ‘plague’ to the whole territory of Ukraine”. He also threatened to make staff rotations in Donetsk regional leadership, based on the appeal of Metinvest leaders, which Pashynskiy interpreted as an appeal of Metinvest owner Rinat Akhmetov.

Dmitry Tymchuk, a leader of the Information Resistance group, has called the Metinvest letter a provocation in his May 11 blog. He explained that Akhmetov has no legal rights to form his own army, unlike another tycoon, Ihor Kolomoiskiy, who as the governor of Dnipropetrovsk region can legally form regional battalions which will be subordinated to official military forces. Squads of Akhmetov have no legal status, so they are as illegal as the terrorist’s squads, according to Tymchuk. He ironized that by asking government forces to leave Donbass, Akhmetov has assumed that it is he (not Ukrainian official forces) who has the exclusive right to protect the peace in Donbass. Tymchuk is also questioning who the “municipal militia” mentioned in the letter are, and what are the sources of weapons that Metinvest will equip its employees with.

Alexander Paraschiy: An active ATO in Mariupol will harm Metinvest’s business, as it will be dangerous for its employees to move on the streets of the city. This is why we can understand the reason behind Metinvest’s top management letter.

As the government’s special forces prefer not to stay for a long time in the city, to avoid casualties, Metinvest squads have a chance to prove their efficiency in stabilizing the situation there. It will be beneficial for everybody if situation in Mariupol stabilizes, whether it will be done with hands of the Akhmetov squad or by Ukrainian special forces. At the same time, the city cannot be controlled by unknown squads. There should be some cooperation between the central government and Akhmetov in their attempt to calm down unrests in the city. From this standpoint, the letter of Metinvest’s top managers, which voice against the presence of Ukrainian forces in the city, seems indeed to be a provocation.

We cannot share the view of Akhmetov’s top managers that there can be still room for negotiations. It is hard to talk with people who are attacking buildings with weapon, taking peaceful people as hostages, torturing and killing them. Akhmetov interprets these unrests as the “voice of Donbass” (asking for the delegation of power from Kyiv) which “should be heard”. Clearly, he is interested in Kyiv delegating more power to regions, as in this case he raises his chance to keep all his assets in Donbass (some of which were acquired at the cheap during the presidency of Yanukovych). For this reason, many experts assume that Akhmetov is stoking the fire of unrest to make Kyiv more compliant to his demands. At the moment there is no direct evidence to confirm such suspicions.