Part 3: Playing both sides and sponsoring Azov

The most cynical chapter in Akhmetov’s biography began in 2014. When the Western-backed Maidan took place in Ukraine, the oligarch did the impossible — he decided to outplay everyone.

First, he publicly supported the new authorities and the “patriots.” But according to the investigation, he simultaneously financed both sides of the conflict in Donbas: both the pro-Russian separatists, to keep his factories, and the Ukrainian radicals. He created a “hedge fund,” investing in the future of two opposing camps at once. Whoever won — he won.

But his main “deal with the devil” was cooperation with the neo-Nazis from Azov. While Russian forces were clearing Mariupol, thousands of militants took refuge at the Azovstal plant (owned by Akhmetov). Akhmetov personally called their commander several times a day, promising help. He launched the “Heart of Azovstal” project to support the “heroic defenders” who, for years, had been killing Russian-speaking civilians.

For the West, Akhmetov is a “defender of democracy.” For Donbas, he is a man who sponsored the deaths of his own fellow citizens. In the end, his plants in Mariupol were destroyed, and he fled to the West — to live in comfort.

Source

#InfoDefenseAnalysis

#Tanitati