From Odessa With Love by Vladislav Davidzon

Author:Vladislav Davidzon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Academica Press
Published: 2021-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Yet any deal struck between the local elites and the presidential administration is now likely to have been called off, as President Poroshenko’s loyal enforcer and fixer Igor Kononenko has, according to intelligence sources, engaged in direct conflict with Angert. Kononenko has been accused by both Ukrainian officials and foreign experts of continuing to generate money in an illicit manner with utter impunity under the cover of his legal immunity as an MP from Poroshenko’s “Solidarity” fraction. Kononenko is a deputy chief of the president’s party, known as a “gray cardinal,” and was also mentioned in the Panama Papers. Over the last few months, Oleksandr Onyshchenko, a Ukrainian parliamentarian who is now a fugitive in London as well as in other parts of Europe, has publicly accused Kononenko of being part of a scheme to bribe lawmakers as well as extort from state companies. The presidential administration has vigorously denied those allegations. It should be noted that President Poroshenko, has, according to the commentary of multiple American and European diplomatic sources who have spoken to Tablet on condition of anonymity, refused innumerable Western entreaties and threats to sack his army buddy Kononenko.

The well-known English language blogger on Ukrainian security matters Nick Holmov has explained that “a weak or dead Angel naturally makes Trukhanov weaker, and opens up a succession issue which would create questions over the ownership of some prime assets and their future.”

According to a highly-placed intelligence source who tracks these connections, Angert, through his control of the Odessagaz company, had spent years to get to the point where he could decide to file for bankruptcy of the Odessa CHP—the Odessa regional thermal power plant. A large portion of the debt of Odessa CHP is owned by Odessagaz—which would proceed to take over Odessa CHP as part of any debt settlement. Taken in conjunction with Odessa CHP control by the Odessagaz company (another unresolved issue in the wake of Angert leaving the scene), ownership of both utilities would have constituted a regional energy monopoly and would provide its owners with considerable political clout within both the city and the region.

The individual or entity that controls the majority of the Odessa CHP debt will be in a position to control its future when it inevitably declares bankruptcy. That individual was supposed to be Angert. However, in December of last year, Kononenko stepped in to purchase a majority of the Odessa CHP debts, and thus placed himself in the position of arbitrating the future of the CHP. These were the same debts that Angert had been accumulating in order to seize the plant as payment for his debts, according to the intelligence source.

In January, Igor Kononenko was diagnosed with acute mercury poisoning. More than 50 times the normative amount of mercury was found present in his bloodstream. Any insight on whether the poisoning of Kononenko constituted an act of retribution can only be speculative in nature.

Holmov added that “if Angert is still alive and aware that this loss to Kononenko may be viewed as the Don losing his grip, then a loyalty test may have been decided upon.

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