Friday, September 29, 2006

IUD-SCM clash on the cards?

I deleted this blog by mistake, so I've reposted it:

An article from 'Parallel-Media' caught my eye, so I've done a loose translation:

Luganshchina could become a battleground between Akhmetov and "Donetsk orange sympathizers

Last week in Alchevsk, the Industrial Union of Donbass [IUD] conglomerate declared it would act as a responsible major employer in the town, and initiated a social-economic partnership together with the local civic administration to support a number of major local projects. [Last winter the town's communal heating system failed, and many of its citizens had to be evacuated.]

At the same time changes in the top management of several state coalmining establishments in the area [who are close to IUD] has taken place. PM Yanukovych's new administration has replaced managers with others that have links with Akhmetov's enterprises.

A political scientist, Vladimir Polokhalo considers that in the Ukraine a process of redistributing of property and spheres of influence is taking place, and this process has a regional component. An example is the division of Luganshchina between "Orange Donetskye" (IUD) and "bluey-whites" (Akhmetov, SystemCapitalManagement)."Today the ground is crumbling under the feet of those regional structures which are oriented toward Yushchenko. This is manifested in the budgetary policy, where there is discrimination displayed against some and privileges offered to others - this is becoming a basic feature of today's economy of the Ukraine, " considers Polokhalo.

He notes that either a pact of armistice may be drawn up between IUD and SCM, or some kind of war is probable.

"Today a representative of IUD [Aleksandr Chaliy, a Vice President of that company] has been appointed to the Secretariat of the President on Bankova Street and this attests to the fact that the equilibrium in the distribution of the market for eastern region will be disrupted, " he added. Aleksandr Chaliy is also a former Deputy Foreign Minister.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk, until recently the Ministers of Economics has also joined and bolstered the Pres's administration.

More on this from EDM here

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