i have speaking to ukraine s 0leksiy chernyshov. he is the ceo of naftogaz, the largest state owned oil and gas company, whose role in all this is critical. he is the man tasked with seeing ukraine through the winter. the situation across the country is complicated. russians are constantly attacking our energy infrastructure and other critical targets. they want ukraine and ukrainians to suffer, sufferfrom a lack want ukraine and ukrainians to suffer, suffer from a lack of energy, the lack of heating, suffer from the lack of water. but ukrainians will stand united and will defend its land. nafta gas is a state oil and gas company. we do service for 12 million of ukrainian households delivering heat and gas to their home. our task is to keep them warm as the way it might go this winter. them warm as the way it might go this winter- this winter. that puts enormous pressure on this winter. that puts enormous pressure on you this winter. that puts enormous pressure on you because - th
you were appointed energy minister, acting energy minister, because the parliament actually refused to rubber stamp your appointment. no, because oligarchy groups, first group controlled by kolomoyskyi, a notorious oligarch, another group controlled by akhmetov. that s. .. that s your version of events. the other thing about your career of late is that having done that acting job for a while, zelensky then wanted to put you in as head of naftogaz, so he kicked out the guy who was head of naftogaz, who, according to all of the independent analysis, was doing a very good job. to quote the former us ambassador to ukraine, mr kobolyev, who was doing the job, was as clean as they come. he was fearless in pursuit of reform. that from the us ambassador. but he was turfed out because zelensky wanted you, his great mate, to take over naftogaz. what does that tell us about corporate culture in ukraine? this quote of the us ambassador, marie yovanovitch, was made in 2017 or 18, when i was numb
with respect, your very career is symbolic of the fact that things are not changing. you were appointed energy minister, acting energy minister, because the parliament actually refused to rubber stamp your appointment. no, because oligarchy groups, first group controlled by kolomoyskyi, a notorious oligarch, another group controlled by akhmetov. that s. .. that s your version of events. the other thing about your career of late is that having done that acting job for a while, zelensky then wanted to put you in as head of naftogaz, so he kicked out the guy who was head of naftogaz, who, according to all of the independent analysis, was doing a very good job. to quote the former us ambassador to ukraine, mr kobolyev, who was doing the job, was as clean as they come. he was fearless in pursuit of reform. that from the us ambassador. but he was turfed out because zelensky wanted you, his great mate, to take over naftogaz. what does that tell us about corporate culture in ukraine?
that weakens your country terribly, doesn t it? it is changing. in 2014, again, when i came back to naftogaz, it was the biggest source of corruption in ukraine, and this corruption was based on imports of russian gas. again, these big oligarchs, the most corrupt people in ukraine, got their power from this import of russian gas. there were some swiss companies as middle men. they were buying tv channels, again, plants and everything. we stopped it in 2014, so i can share my personal experience of how we fight corruption. with respect, your very career is symbolic of the fact that things are not changing. you were appointed energy minister, acting energy minister, because the parliament actually refused to rubber stamp your appointment. no, because oligarchy groups, first group controlled by kolomoyskyi, a notorious oligarch, another group controlled by akhmetov. that s. .. that s your version of events. the other thing about your career of late is that having done that acting job for
and you ve been delivering this message, that it s a strategic danger to ukraine, to washington, to berlin, to all of the key capitals for years, and they have not been listening. that is the reality. we had some successes. so, under the previous administration, again, we managed to persuade the congress to impose some sanctions on nord stream 2. i know the story, but let us be real about where we are. joe biden decided to lift all the remaining sanctions on the nord stream 2 project last year. let us also look at the germans. new chancellor olaf scholz, even now, he can t find it within himself to guarantee that if the russians invade, he will block nord stream 2. what does that tell you about the attitude, for example, of the germans, toward a long term relationship with russia and still dependence on their gas? yeah, it s difficult, otherwise, i would not be in this position. in this position of the ceo of naftogaz.