March 25, 2016

March 30, 2006

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Ten years ago, on March 30, 2006, Party of Regions member Rinat Akhmetov held the second of his first two press conferences in Ukraine – this time in Kyiv. The first press conference was in his hometown of Donetsk on February 19, 2006.

These rare public appearances before the press were motivated by Mr. Akhmetov’s public activity with the Party of Regions as a national deputy in Ukraine’s Parliament.  Mr. Akhmetov’s image makeover was made possible by the Davis Manafort public relations firm.

During his exchange in Russian with the Ukrainian press, Mr. Akhmetov mentioned “economic growth” no less than 21 times, and called for a united Ukraine with equal treatment of all Ukrainian citizens. Prior to his press conferences, the Party of Regions – including its party leader, Viktor Yanukovych – had officially switched to Ukrainian in its communications. However, both leaders supported the official status of the Russian language in Ukraine.

As a national deputy, Mr. Akhmetov (an ethnic Tatar and self-proclaimed “practicing Muslim”) enjoyed prosecutorial immunity. Experts believed that the motivating factor for Mr. Akhmetov was the arrest of Borys Kolesnykov on charges of extortion after Mr. Kolesnykov threatened to kill a Donetsk department store owner, Borys Penchuk, in a bid to force Mr. Penchuk to sell his shares at a discount.

Crimean Tatars declined to offer support to the Party of Regions, despite appeals by Mr. Akhmetov to the Ukrainian Muslim Party. Crimean Tatars complained that the Party of Regions Crimean branch was led by Russian nationalists who had conducted anti-Tatar and anti-Muslim campaigns in the past.

Mr. Akhmetov, believed at one time to be the wealthiest businessman in Ukraine, reportedly graduated with a degree in economics from Donetsk State University, but his graduation could not be confirmed by Korrespondent magazine.

In 1995, Mr. Akhmetov became president of the Shakhtar Donetsk soccer club after its owner, Akhat Bragin, a distant relative of Mr. Akhmetov’s, was killed at the stadium. Previously, Mr. Akhmetov served as the club’s vice-president. The same year, he created System Capital Management – a holding company for his more than $5 billion in assets. In 2016, Mr. Akhmetov’s wealth was estimated to be  $6.9 billion. (At its height, his wealth was estimated to be nearly $11 billion.)

Mr. Akhmetov was named earlier this month, with fellow Party of Regions member Yurii Boiko, among possible candidates for leadership positions in the Russian-controlled regions of the Donbas. Since the Russian invasion of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine, Mr. Akhmetov’s assets in the region, including coal mines, have remained relatively untouched by the fighting, raising suspicions about his dealings with the Russia-backed fighters.

Source: “Rynat Akhmetov meets the press and the public,” by Zenon Zawada, The Ukrainian Weekly, April 16, 2006.

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