Insider Provides Insight on Gas Dealings in Ukraine

In Siding with Intermediaries, Officials Betray National Interests

The Kyiv Post has published an interview with Dmytro Marunych, who held the position 2010 as deputy head of the press office of state-run energy monopoly, Naftogaz Ukraine for a number of years.

Working at the state oil and gas company under various presidents and governments provided Marunych with a unique inside view on what he describes as the murky dealings at play At Naftogaz.

The article portrays an environment where officials and their business backers put personal gain ahead of national interests, driving a profitable and a big contributor to the state budget to  the verge of bankruptcy.

Particularily interesting are comments about Gazprom and gas intermediary, RosUkrEnergo, owned equally by Gazprom and Ukrainian billionaire Dmytro Firtash.

Firtash has been caught up in the WikLeaks scandal. US embassy cables tie Russian gas supplies to Ukraine and EU states to the Russian mafia.

The Guardian reports that in a confidential meeting with the US ambassador Willam Taylor, Firtash admitted Russian mafia boss Semyon Mogilevich was the real power behind his own multibillion-dollar gas interests. He insisted it was impossible to do business in Ukraine in the 1990s without striking sleazy deals with organised criminals.

In a secret memo the Taylor, wrote: "He [Firtash] acknowledged ties to Russian organised crime figure Semyon Mogilevich, stating he had needed Mogilevich's approval to get into business in the first place."

Read the full interview with Dmytro Marunych HERE.  Read the Details about Dmytro Firtash HERE