Kiev leadership declares war on Kolomoisky’s “gang”

Dnepropetrovsk Regional Administration officials support the inter-regional criminal gang that operates in the Donetsk and Dnepropetrovsk regions, Head of the Ukrainian Security Council Valentin Nalivaychenko briefed in Kiev, Monday, on March 23.

 “We realize that the criminal gang that operated in Donetsk and Dnepropetrovsk regions, and the criminals that used weapons against law-enforcers and those that abducted people belong to the same organized criminal grouping that received support– and we reasonably suspected that financing as well – from the officials of the Dnepropetrovsk regional administration. At the request of the president, the attorney general adopted a decision to unite all those crimes,” Nalivaychenko said.

"The officials, especially those of the Dnepropetrovsk Regional Administration, are now threatening our investigators to engage the illegal armed groups, particularly, the alleged security company 'Sich'. Now they threaten to use these armed men to prevent further investigation and detention of the murderer," Nalyvaichenko said.

According to him, on March 21, an officer of the Security Council of Ukraine was shot dead while attempting to detain three trucks with contraband that were trying to enter the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) from Volnovakha. The police are now searching a resident of Dnepropetrovsk Denys Gordeev (1979) on suspicion in the murder. According to some unconfirmed data, Gordeev is a soldier of the Dnepro-1 Battalion with the call sign "Advokat" (“lawyer”) and a representative of the ”Praviy Sector” (Right Sector) in Dnepropetrovsk .

Nalivaychenko said Petro Poroshenko charged disarming everyone in the building of Ukrnafta. To recall, Igor Kolomoisky together with the fighters of the “Dnepr” Battalion he funds seized the office of Ukrnafta oil company in Kiev, erected a three-meter-high iron fence around the building and barricaded themselves from inside.”

“First and foremost, everyone inside the building of Ukrnafta must be disarmed,” UNN quotes Nalivaychenko as saying. “We confirm the illegal activity of the group of person, including use of weapons, which was registered by both the Interior Ministry and journalists.”

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, in turn, charged Igor Kolomoisky, the head of the Dnepropetrovsk Regional Administration, to disarm his guard withn24 hours. Avakov wrote on Facebook: “Armed personal guards of businessmen and politicians will no longer walk in the city streets. It applies to everyone, both the quasi-patriots and real patriots, big businessmen and oligarchs, and to Kolomoisky personally,” Avakov writes urging everyone who want to protect their business to do it within the law by applying to the State Security Service and militia.

As EAD reported earlier, two battalions of the National Guard of Ukraine were sent to Dnepropetrovsk today to “ensure the public order in line with the president’s decree.” However, there is still no relevant decree on the president’s website.

The conflict between President Petro Poroshenko and Head of the Dnepropetrovsk Regional Administration Igor Kolomoisky turned ugly after disputes around Ukrtransnafta when Kolomoisky’s ally Alexander Lazorko was dismissed from the position of the company manager on March 19. In response, Kolomoisky with his supporters and armed guards occupied the building of Ukrtransnafta. After staying inside for 6 hours, Kolomoisky got out, insulted a RFE/RL correspondent, saying that the president’s team and ‘Russian raiders’ attempted to carry out a ‘forcible takeover.’

Afterwards, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the situation was settled and the building of Ukrtransnafta was under control of the militia.  On the next day, Kolomoisky was reprimanded by the president for insulting the journalist, but has not yet apologized to him.

At present, Kolomoisky’s  armed men are holding the building of Ukrnafta that was seized on March 22 after Rada passed a bill on the state-controlled joint-stock companies on March 19. The bill deprives Kolomoisky of the control over the state oil extractor he holds 42 percent in.