Yatsenyuk is justifiably proud of the nation’s progress in cleaning up the gas sector. “We have eliminated oligarchs and mediators who, like vampires, existed in the Ukrainian Naftogaz system, including Mr. Firtash, whose case is being investigated by the FBI,” Yatsenyuk said. Last year, Yatsenyuk threatened to nationalize some of Firtash’s Ostchem holdings if he didn’t repay debts and accused him of illegal use of state-gas distribution networks – charges that Firtash also denied.
The extent of Firtash’s wealth and power is such that he is free on $140 million bail and, at an extradition hearing last year, he bragged of his kingmaking role in Ukrainian politics by summoning Petro Poroshenko and Vitali Klitschko to Vienna for a 2014 meeting.
Firtash has always defended his role as an honest broker, but the facts tell a different story. Ukraine did not buy Russian natural gas this winter. Naftogaz has eliminated a deficit that used to cost taxpayers up to $1 billion monthly. The nation has moved to eliminate schemes use to amass private fortunes at the public’s expense. Yet Firtash had the nerve to say that the current Ukrainian government “has brought the country to the edge of catastrophe” and that America made Ukraine poor. The truth is that people like Firtash impoverished Ukraine, sullied its political life and left the nation at the edge of catastrophe. Good riddance.
