Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stripped his former key ally Igor Kolomoisky, who is under FBI investigation, of his Ukrainian citizenship.
Kolomoisky, an infamous oligarch and one of the richest men in Ukraine, is wanted by the FBI over one of the largest money laundering cases in history, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Zelensky’s recent order to strip his former ally of citizenship, confirmed to the newspaper by two sources close to Zelensky, opens up the potential of extradition to the United States. The oligarch had previously been safe in Ukraine, as no extradition treaty exists there with the U.S.
Zelensky’s government is “taking serious measures,” former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst told the outlet. “It may be a response to this latest expression of concern about corruption in Ukraine. If this is true, this is a big deal. Ukraine, of course, is fighting for its life.”
POLISH MMA FIGHTER KILLED IN UKRAINE
Zelensky owes much of his political career to Kolomoisky, whose television channel aired his show and heavily promoted him. The oligarch was likely Zelensky’s biggest donor during his presidential campaign, leading to the president’s derogatory designation as the “Kolomoisky candidate,” according to the Spectator. He visited the exiled billionaire a dozen times in Geneva and Tel Aviv during his campaign, appointed one of his lawyers as an adviser, and even broke COVID-19 lockdown protocols to attend his birthday party in Kiev in early 2021.
Kolomoisky was once one of the most powerful men in Ukraine. As the governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast during the 2014 crises, he became what one American diplomat described as a “warlord.” Dubbed “Ukraine’s secret weapon” in 2014 by the Wall Street Journal, Kolomoisky used his own fortune to boost the Ukrainian army, then to create his own private army, according to Vox.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Zelensky’s crackdown on his former ally may be a preview of things to come. Western donors are likely to press for even stricter reform to cripple the power of the oligarchs who have been so instrumental in the country’s affairs after the war, according to the Financial Times. “There is an understanding that Ukraine will not be resilient against Russian aggression if it does not clean itself. They [the oligarchs] will not have the same kind of entitlement as they had after independence,” Orysia Lutsevych, head of the Ukraine program at Chatham House, a London think tank, told the Financial Times.
