Russian lawmaker warns Ukrainian tycoons may rise in revolt against president

MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. The dismissal of Ukrainian billionaire tycoon Igor Kolomoisky from the post of Dnipropetrovsk Region governor and a major showdown between the tycoon and President Petro Poroshenko demonstrate a deep crisis of the Ukrainian regime and the failure of western-imposed policy, a top parliamentarian at the Russian State Duma lower house of parliament told TASS on Wednesday.

"Under the slogan of European integration, Ukraine is rolling back to the times of anarchy and oligarchic rule. Democracy is nowhere near," said Leonid Slutsky, the head of the Duma’s committee for CIS, Eurasian integration and ties with compatriots.

"All this proceeds against the background of a deepest economic crisis in the country, rapid depreciation of hryvnia and the country’s inability to meet its social commitments," he said.

According to Slutsky, in this situation Ukraine may be facing new hardships and popular unrest, however this time in favor of oligarchs and not for the sake of defending democratic values.

"It is quite possible that we will soon witness a new Maidan, however oligarchic this time," he said. "And judging by the developments under way in Ukraine, Poroshenko will have to ask the West for military assistance not to quell resistance of Donbass militias, but quite possibly to resist the ‘pocket army’ of his once Euromaidan ally, Kolomoisky," he said.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has dismissed Dnipropetrovsk Governor Igor Kolomoisky, the official website of the Ukrainian president said on Wednesday. The dismissal came after Kolomoisky met the president in the capital Kiev. Valntin Reznichenko is appointed as acting Dnipropetrovsk Governor.

TASS World Service writer Tamara Zamyatina wrote on the conflict on Tuesday: "First, President Poroshenko made a decision to replace the chief of the country’s largest oil and gas company Ukranafta, in which Kolomoisky’s businesses control an aggregate 42% stake, while the government owns 50% plus one share. Kolomoisky rose in revolt last Sunday to venture into Ukrnafta’s building with a group of gunmen by his side to put it under control".

President Poroshenko "vowed he would not let any governor have a "private army", thereby making a clear hint at the head of the Dnipropetrovsk Region, who is known to keep several volunteer battalions on his payroll".

"The Ukrainian Security Service dealt its own blow on Kolomoisky. As its chief Valentin Nalivaichenko said at a special news briefing, the security service was probing into the rumoured involvement of senior officials of the Dnipropetrovsk Region’s administration in financing a crime ring responsible for smuggling goods across the line of disengagement with the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics and for kidnappings," Tamara Zamyatina wrote.