Oligarchs are Yanukovych's weakest link

 

As Ukraine slides further toward catastrophe, its rich and mighty could play a key role to prevent further loss of life and put the country on the path to normalisation. Ukrainian oligarchs, who control great swathes of the country's economy and some 80-odd MPs from the ruling Party of Regions, could, counter-intuitively, become part of the solution. 

In Ukraine the fusion of business and politics is more the rule than the exception. Holding high legislative and executive office provides access to a patronage system, protection for business, access to public finance, and immunity from prosecution. 

For example, Ukraine's richest man, Rinat Akhmetov, the main financial backer of the regime and a long-standing ally of President Viktor Yanukovych, was, until recently, a member of parliament. These privileges can yield substantial benefits. 

Forbes.ua (the Ukrainian edition of the Forbes financial magazine) reports that Mr Akhmetov's businesses obtained 31% of all state tenders in January 2014. 

Mr Yanukovych's son tops even this, having "won" 50% of state contracts in the same period. Mr Akhmetov controls a group of around 50 MPs in parliament. 

 Other powerful business moguls inside the Party of Regions include Vadim Novinsky, the third-richest man in Ukraine, and Serhiy Tigipko, a former presidential candidate and minister of labour.
As the violence took a new vicious circle this week, Mr Tigipko called for a new technocratic government to manoeuvre Ukraine out of the edge of economic and political default, and for international mediation of the crisis.

 Finally, the so-called "Firtash group" in the parliament is led by gas magnate Dmytro Firtash and Vice-Prime Minister Igor Boyko. It includes around 30 MPs.