The decision threatened to damage U.S. and European ties with Ukraine just as Kyiv had earned an outpouring of Western support in recent weeks during a massive Russian troop buildup on its borders.Naftogaz had been portrayed by U.S. officials and European officials as a success story in the country’s long-running struggle to combat corruption.
John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, said the move would jeopardize a key element of efforts to root out corruption and open up opportunities for potentialBefore reforms were introduced after 2014, corrupt actors had managed to siphon off large sums of money from the gas company, and the dismantling of the management would re-open the door to similar practices, according to Herbst.
Two Florida businessmen, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who were helping Giuliani try to dig up damaging information on Biden and his family, were also engaged in efforts to install new board members and management at Naftogaz, NBC News reported in 2019. That attempt ultimately failed. Kobolyev, the CEO sacked by the government, said past experience had shown the terrible effects of what he called political interference in Ukraine’s state-owned enterprises.
In her testimony to House impeachment investigators in October 2019, Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine fired by Trump after demands from Giuliani, called Kobolyev “as clean as they come.”Oleksiy Honcharuk, who served as the country’s prime minister from August 2019 to March 2020, called the decision a step backward from anti-corruption reforms designed to prevent political interference in state-owned firms.
Ukraine isn't a sovereign nation? They can't make their own decisions? Tfoh
Fired. Not sacked.
Um true
Where Giuliani in all this, somewhere for sure
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