KIEV: Russian-backed rebels on Wednesday halted the operations of the first Ukrainian company after an ultimatum expired to end a trade blockade between the two foes.
Protesting Ukrainian war veterans and opposition lawmakers have blocked rail freight traffic between government and rebel territory since January to stop the insurgents from receiving the cash they get in trading with Kiev.
The situation has riled Ukraine’s pro-Western government as it has cut off access to a specific type of coal produced only in the east that it requires. But the activists accuse the authorities in Kiev of allowing the trade to indirectly fund rebels in a 34-month war that has claimed more than 10,000 lives and continues to grind on.
The insurgents on Monday warned they would start taking over Ukranian-owned companies that still operate in their part of the war zone if the rail strike was not ended by Wednesday.
The first person to suffer from the threat was Ukraine’s richest man. Rinat Akhmetov is a billionaire whose empire include the telephone provider Ukrtelecom.
Akhmetov’s holding company SCM said on Wednesday that Ukrtelecom’s office in the industrial eastern regions controlled by the militias had been seized. — AFP
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