Zelensky on campaign against oligarchs in Ukraine: 'Minus Medvedchuk'
KYIV. May 14 (Interfax) - The latest events surrounding Ukrainian parliamentarian Viktor Medvedchuk of the Opposition Platform - For Life party faction should be seen as his exclusion from the coterie of Ukrainian oligarchs, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"For the first time in years, the number of oligarchs has decreased rather than increased. Minus Medvedchuk. With the employment of legal instruments, Medvedchuk has been deprived of the opportunity to use media assets and state property to openly hit the country and cause destructive damage to national security. There are going to be more 'minuses' until all oligarchs simply become big businesspeople," Zelensky said in a column in the Focus.ua publication on Friday.
Medvedchuk can serve as an example of "what oligarch status really is," Zelensky said.
"If a concentrated media resource is taken away from such people to deprive them of non-transparent access to strategic assets and 'protection' in Kyiv, they can't take away anything else from the state. And they can't weaken the state amid a confrontation for our sovereignty. That's the essence of our de-oligarchization policy," he said.
Fundamental legislation on de-oligarchization will be presented to the public in the near future, which would provide a systemic approach to the problem, he said.
On February 2, Zelensky enforced a National Security and Defense Council decision on imposing personal sanctions on parliamentarian Taras Kozak of the Opposition Platform - For Life faction, effectively blocking the operations of the 112 Ukraina, Newsone, and ZIK television channels linked to Medvedchuk.
Following a session of the National Security and Defense Council on April 15, Zelensky announced plans to draw up legislation to restrict the influence that oligarchs exert on political and lawmaking processes in Ukraine.
On May 11, Medvedchuk and Kozak were informed of being suspected of high treason and an attempt to embezzle national resources in Crimea. Kyiv's Pechersky District Court ruled on May 14 to place Medvedchuk under round-the-clock house arrest.
Medvedchuk himself said he saw the charges brought against him as politically-motivated ones and as pressure on the opposition.