Editor’s Note: This feature separates Ukraine’s friends from its enemies The Order of Yaroslav the Wise has been given since 1995 for distinguished service to the nation. It is named after the Kyivan Rus leader from 1019-1054, when the medieval empire reached its zenith. The Order of Lenin was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union, whose demise Russian President Vladimir Putin mourns. It is named after Vladimir Lenin, whose corpse still rots on the Kremlin’s Red Square, 100 years after the October Revolution he led.
Adam Schiff – Order of Yaroslav the Wise
CENTURY CITY, CA – NOVEMBER 07: U.S. Representative Adam Schiff arrives at the Los Angeles LGBT Center 46th Anniversary Gala Vanguard Awards at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza on November 7, 2015 in Century City, California. John Sciulli/Getty Images for Los Angeles LGBT Center/AFP
The Democratic U.S. House of Representatives member from California turned in a star performance at the March 20 House Intelligence Committee hearing in Washington, D.C.
The committee is investigating Russian influence on the 2016 U.S. presidential election. At the hearing, U.S. FBI Director James Comey confirmed an investigation into ties between Russia and U.S President Donald J. Trump’s campaign. Schiff laid out a detailed account. Here are excerpts:
“In early July, Carter Page, someone candidate Trump identified as one of his national security advisers, travels to Moscow on a trip approved by the Trump campaign. While in Moscow, he gives a speech critical of the United States and other Western countries for what he believes is a hypocritical focus on democratization and efforts to fight corruption.
“According to Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer who is reportedly held in high regard by U.S. Intelligence, Russian sources tell him that Page has also had a secret meeting with Igor Sechin, CEO of Russian gas giant Rosneft. Sechin is reported to be a former KGB agent and close friend of Putin’s. According to Steele’s Russian sources, Page is offered brokerage fees by Sechin on a deal involving a 19 percent share of the company. According to Reuters, the sale of a 19.5 percent share in Rosneft later takes place, with unknown purchasers and unknown brokerage fees.
“Also, according to Steele’s Russian sources, the Trump campaign is offered documents damaging to Hillary Clinton, which the Russians would publish through an outlet that gives them deniability, like Wikileaks. The hacked documents would be in exchange for a Trump administration policy that de-emphasizes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and instead focuses on criticizing NATO countries for not paying their fair share…
“In the middle of July, Paul Manafort, the Trump campaign manager and someone who was long on the payroll of pro-Russian Ukrainian interests, attends the Republican Party convention…Just prior to the convention, the Republican Party platform is changed, removing a section that supports the provision of ‘lethal defensive weapons’ to Ukraine, an action that would be contrary to Russian interests. Manafort categorically denies involvement by the Trump campaign in altering the platform. But the Republican Party delegate who offered the language…states it was removed at the insistence of the Trump campaign.”
It’s worth watching or reading Schiff’s remarks in their entirety. Let’s hope the probe is as good.
– Brian Bonner
Oleg Deripaska – Order of Lenin
Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska, Chairman of Supervisory Board of Basic Element company speaks during a session of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2013 on January 23, 2013 at the Swiss resort of Davos. The World Economic Forum (WEF) will take place from January 23 to 27. AFP PHOTO / JOHANNES EISELE / AFP PHOTO / JOHANNES EISELE
During the March 20 congressional intelligence committee hearing, the name of Paul Manafort — the former campaign manager for U.S. President Donald J. Trump and former adviser to deposed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych — came up 28 times. But not once did any officials bring up Oleg Deripaska, the Russian oligarch who was revealed to have hired Manafort to conduct operations against the United States.
An Associated Press report from March 22 revealed that, in a 2005 memo, Deripaska said Manafort would “greatly benefit” Russian President Vladimir Putin. Hacked U. S. Embassy cables published by Wikileaks showed that U.S. diplomats described Deripaska as “among the two to three oligarchs Putin turns to on a regular basis.”
Deripaska has spent much of his 25-year career as a pawn of a corrupt and criminal Kremlin administration. This week’s revelation is nothing new, but it serves as a good time for us to name him Ukraine foe of the week.
The 49-year-old businessman made his initial fortune in commodity trading during the 1990s, eventually acquiring Siberian aluminum plants. From there, and like many other Russian and Ukrainian businessmen, he appears to have mixed his economic sway with political power. A 2006 U. S. State Department cable described him as a “more-or-less permanent fixture on Putin’s trips abroad.”
He hired Manafort to maintain control over industrial assets that he had acquired in Ukraine.
“Manafort proposed that Deripaska and Putin would benefit from lobbying Western governments, especially the United States, to allow oligarchs to keep possession of formerly state-owned assets in Ukraine,” the AP reported. “He proposed building ‘long-term relationships’ with Western journalists and a variety of measures to improve recruitment, communications and financial planning by pro-Russian parties in the region.”
Deripaska also set up a private equity fund called Pericles to acquire media assets across Ukraine. With Deripaska’s mandate, Manafort attempted to buy out an Odesa cable company called “Black Sea.” But before the deal was complete, Manafort made off with the $19 million investment, reportedly refusing to answer Deripaska’s phone calls from that point on.
It’s clear from the evidence that Deripaska was happy to be a tool for the Putin government to gain influence in Ukraine. He saw that maintaining control over industry in this country and taking advantage of Ukraine’s parasitic oligarchic system would allow the Kremlin to retain political influence. It’s an indictment of Manafort that he was a willing participant in all of this, and a shame that it is only coming to light just now.
