Donetsk arrests 3 cabinet minister
2014-11-19
Posted by: badanov
Never a dull moment in Donetsk. Bare knuckle politics in southeastern Ukraina. Update: An unconfirmed report by the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs said that Donbas rebels have captured a bank owned by Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, presumably as part of the seizing of assets to satisfy tax requirements.
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Three cabinet ministers of the nascent breakaway republic of Donetsk were detained last Friday, only a week after the inauguration of the Donetsk government administration of Aleksandr Zackharchenko, according to unofficial reports.
And in a late development, the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) announced that Donbas rebels have captured a financial institution belonging to a Ukrainian oligarch.
Minister of Fuel and Energy Alexei Granovsky, Deputy Prime Minister Alexandra Kalyusskogo, and a third unidentified minister were detained by counterintelligence officials, related in a news item on a news website of Igor Girkin (Strelkov).
While Donetsk government officials claim the three had been denounced by citizens, an unlikely tip led to the arrests, according to a quote from intelligence chief Sergey Petrovsky. Most surprising, according to various data in Donetsk social media, was the arrest of Granovsky, a highly respected individual.
Granovsky had submitted his resignation from his cabinet post just hours before his arrest in protest of a new taxation policy with regard to property belonging to Ukrainian industrialist and oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov.
Akhmetov refused to pay taxes due Donetsk because of Ukrainian law which says transfers of monies to Donetsk constitutes supporting a terrorist group, and could lead to detention and conviction by Ukrainian authorities. When Akhmetov refused to pay, unidentified industrial property was seized by Donetsk and "nationalized".
Ukraina's official policy is that the separatists in Donetsk and its sister republic Lugansk are terrorists.
The Donetsk government has already begun to use seized industrial property to refurbish damaged heavy combat equipment such as tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. Although it was indicated by information elsewhere that the property was being used to repair military equipment, nothing had been said to that point about "nationalization".
According to a blog post by Vyacheslav Zaitsev, from information supplied in polit.ru news website, Akhmetov was not the only oligarch who was notified of the payment requirements by the newly formed Donetsk government. Several other unidentified Ukrainian businessmen with properties in Donetsk also were warned to pay.
Akhmetov, according to Zaitsev, urged workers on both sides of the conflict to go on a "warning strike" over what he termed was "Donetsk genocide". It is unclear in these and other reports if the call to strike was before or after the announcement of nationalization.
Head of the Supreme Council in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, said nationalization of local businesses would begin this week.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.
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