You're reading: Akhmetov calls for decentralization of power, change of Constitution in Ukraine

Businessman Rinat Akhmetov spoke in favor of a united Ukraine and said he believes decentralization of power by changing the Constitution is the best solution to the situation in Donbas.

“It is the only right way to do it: changing the Constitution,
decentralization of power. It’s when power goes from Kyiv to the
regions. It’s when local authorities assume responsibility for the
present and the future to people,” Akhmetov said on the website of SKM
Group owned by him on May 14.

Commenting on the scenario of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the
businessman said no one in the world will recognize it. He recalled that
the region’s economy is composed of the mining industry, metallurgy,
energy, machine-building, chemical industry, and agriculture and all
related enterprises associated with these industries.

“We will fall under huge sanctions, we won’t be able to sell or buy.
That means halt of production, which means unemployment, which means
poverty,” Akhmetov said.

Akhmetov believes neither Russia nor Donbas needs the scenario of
accession to Russia. “Neither Russia nor Donbas will benefit from it. We
will fall under huge sanctions and we won’t be able to sell or produce
our products. This means economic decline, unemployment, and poverty,”
the businessman said.

Speaking about the fourth scenario, which is to leave everything as
it is, when all power is held by Kyiv, Akhmetov said: “This method has
outlived itself, it has no right to a future.”