A Donetsk businessman is caught on tape flaunting his ties with President Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions in an attempt to forcibly shut down a rival’s business.
In a vivid reminder that business practices in Ukraine have still not evolved much from the lawless gangster era of the 1990s, a Donetsk businessman has been caught on tape flaunting his ties with President Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions in an attempt to forcibly shut down a rival’s business.
“We are not going to talk, we are going to hit, you son of a bitch,” Oleksandr Grupsky threatens Vladimir Razumovsky, who owns the Decorative Plant Factory in Donetsk.
The threat, caught on hidden camera, shows Grupsky touting his association with the president’s ruling party.
“I have been a member of the Party of Regions for the last nine years. They want me to become a deputy … So what do you think now, Vladimir? Have you enjoyed being harassed and all these inspections…Until you ‘get it,’ these checks will continue forever,” Grupsky says.
Razumovsky, the target of the harassment, calmly laid out his case – as well as Grupsky’s surreptitiously recorded threats – in a videotape.
The 9-minute, 40-second clip has become a mini-YouTube sensation (at
Kyiv Post staff writer Peter Byrne can be reached at [email protected]
