How Ukraine falls between political, economic and linguistic camps
The power of the “family” is rivalled by at least two other groups. The first is
led by Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest tycoon and one of the world’s biggest
steel producers. The second comprises Dmitry Firtash, a gas trader, and Sergei
Levochkin, his junior partner, who is also Mr Yanukovych’s chief of staff. Mr
Levochkin recently emerged as a 20% owner of the country’s largest private
television channel, Inter, after a third partner, Valery Khoroshkovsky, a former
security-service head, sold his stake and left Ukraine. He seems to have
overreached. Rivalry is rife not just between clans but within them as well, and
loyalties are flexible. To hedge their bets, each Ukrainian oligarch supports a
spectrum of politicians, providing a degree of pluralism in the system.
