Oligarchs in Ukraine should be ready for new rules of the game, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
“This is a normal format for working with oligarchs. They have to invest a lot of money, which they earned in different ways without crime [because if there is a crime, we will imprison], in Ukraine. There will be new rules. Everyone should pay taxes. And they know that we won’t allow them to be monopolists. They will have to deny themselves something, they all already know about it,” he said in the Openly with the President (Vidverto z Prezydentom) interview on the air of a number of Ukrainian TV channels.
Zelensky noted that during a meeting with businessman Rinat Akhmetov, the latter had been put forward the condition that the Rotterdam+ formula would be canceled, which was done, and that there would be a large financial burden on each oligarch.
“He [Akhmetov] bought 200 ambulances for children’s hospitals. We will present an investment document to him so that he invests [although he still does not know about it] big money in medicine, in the infrastructure of Donbas,” the president said.
As reported, while meeting with a number of the most prominent Ukrainian businesspeople on June 20, Zelensky said he had agreed with Victor Pinchuk, Rinat Akhmetov, and Ihor Kolomoisky that they would contribute to funding and supporting socioeconomic and humanitarian projects for Donbas and all of Ukraine.
He said these businessmen took on responsibility for resolving some particular issues.
“For example, Mr. Pinchuk will provide the 24 families of our captured sailors with apartments already now and will further handle problems of social assistance to all military service members. As for Mr. Rinat Akhmetov, not only have we agreed on repealing the Rotterdam+ formula, but we have also agreed that he would invest in medicine and that he would invest in roads and infrastructure in Donbas. We’ve already seen the first result – it’s 200 ambulances for city and village hospitals around Ukraine. Mr. Ihor Kolomoisky will invest huge money in Donbas infrastructure, although he doesn’t know about that yet,” Zelensky said.
