Ukraina valde Ryssland före EU - stora protester som följd, länkar i inlägg2

The news that a Ukranian oligarch was arrested was reported in several media outlets, seen as a sign of the West’s crackdown on businessmen in the region. Nearly all the outlets labeled Firtash a billionaire. Yet a Forbes investigation into the value of his assets indicates that, far from it, the value of his fortune has been shrinking for the past few years, and is closer to $500 million.

Firtash, who went from relative anonymity to having amassed a substantial fortune in just a few years, was arrested on March 12 by Austrian police without incident. He is being held in Vienna on charges of bribery and forming a criminal organization.

Firtash, in typical oligarch fashion, built his wealth in the natural gas industry, the cornerstone of several of Ukraine’s largest fortunes. He has since expanded into fertilizers, titanium, banking, real estate, and media, among other businesses. Firtash, who the U.S. is seeking to extradite and is being held on $174 million bail, is not a billionaire though he is one of the Ukraine’s most prominent figures, with strong ties to Russia and seen by many as a front for other partners. Diplomatic cables made public by Wikileaks show that Firtash reached out to the U.S. ambassador in 2008 to “portray a positive image of himself.” In those conversations, the oligarch revealed his support for since ousted President Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and “acknowledged ties to Russian organized crime figure Seymon Mogilevich.” Mogilevich is on the FBI’s ten most wanted fugitives list. Others say he is possibly a front for Vladimir Putin and his supporters.

It is difficult to precisely ascertain how much Firtash actually owns in the businesses he controls. While there is no hard evidence that his backers are Putin or Russian organized crime, sources to whom we’ve spoken in the Ukraine over the years insist that the money is not all his. In light of that, we estimate his stakes in his DF Group at roughly 50%, with the rest being held by these unnamed partners.

What we do know is that in the mid-2000s, seemingly out of thin air, Firtash suddenly gained control of Eural TransGas, a Hungarian-based company that dealt with the transportation of natural gas from Turkmenistan. He later became co-owner of RosUkrEnergo (a subsidiary of Gazprom) which at one point held the monopoly in the imports of Russian natural gas.

First of all, I want to say that the illegal referendum that is attempted to be held at gunpoint in the Crimea is not recognized by any country in the world. Moreover, it is not recognized by Ukrainian parliament, goverment and society.

"Therefore, soldiers who are in the Crimea will strictly follow the laws and statutes of the armed forces. And they will not leave because this is Ukrainian land. Further actions depend on decisions taken by the political leadership of the state.

"Russia must immediately withdraw its military troops out of Crimea and the Black Sea Fleet to their places of permanent deployment as it is backed by certain basic agreements between Ukraine and Russia. Ukrainian navy headquarters was and is going to stay in Sevastopol. As for the National Guard, a few days ago, more than 40,000 people have already signed up and volunteered for the military commissariat.

"I am keeping in contact with the Russian defense minister. I called him several times and asked "What are your illegal armed troops doing on the territory of Crimea?" It was a "pleasure" to hear the response: "We know nothing, those are not our soldiers, we do not have any armed forces there."

Funny to know it.

"When I specifically named brigades battalions numbers, military units, the reply came: "We will think about it."

Of course, this is not considered to be an honest answer.

The same response was received by head of the general staff of Ukraine who was trying to contact with the head of the Russian general staff: "Our military is not based in Crimea, except the Black Sea Fleet."