Thread by @karolcummins

Exclusive: Documents Reveal Erik Prince's $10 Billion Plan to Make Weapons and Create a Private Army in Ukraine

H/T ⁦@leesgirl9⁩ time.com/6076035/erik-p…

“Had it been another four years of Trump, Erik would probably be closing the deal,” says Novikov.

The docs describe a series of ventures that would give Prince a pivotal role in Ukraine’s military industry and its ongoing conflict with Russia. time.com/6076035/erik-p…

But the Ukrainians had serious concerns about working with Prince, according to three people involved in the negotiations. Prince’s choice of allies in Kyiv—two men with ties to Russia—raised particular alarm.

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His Ukrainian business partner is Andriy Artemenko, who made headlines in 2017 by offering the Trump
Administration a “peace plan” for the war in Ukraine that envisioned ways for the U.S. to lift sanctions against Russia.

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TeamTrump’s “Ukrainian Peace Plan” 🧵

https://twitter.com/karolcummins/status/1175147921018195968

Another Prince ally in Kyiv was Andriy Derkach, a Ukrainian legislator whom the U.S. has accused of being an “active Russian agent.” Both Artemenko and Derkach worked to advance Prince’s business ventures in Ukraine last year.

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Andriy Derkach, a Russian intel officer (now sanctioned) & associate of Rudy Giuliani, has hired Andrii Artemenko (tight with Putin) a business partner of Erik Prince to lobby Washington on his behalf regarding “corruption.” 🙄

politico.com/news/2020/04/1…

“We had to wonder: Is this the best sort of partnership we can get from the Americans?

This group of shady characters working for a close ally of Trump?” says Novikov, the fmr aide to Ukraine’s president. “It felt like the worst America had to offer.”

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📌Those concerns only heightened when, at a pivotal moment in negotiations, one of Prince’s associates proferred in writing a “participation offer” that Novikov considered an attempted bribe.

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As the deals ran into resistance from the government in Ukraine, Prince’s allies faced bigger problems in New York City, where both Artemenko and Derkach are now under criminal investigation.

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Pelletier agreed that the ref to “participation offers” looks suspicious. It would be likely to cause “alarm bells,” he says, at the DOJ. “On its face, the terms suggest some sort of kickback payments to gov’t contracting officials—a definite no-no.”
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“No money or offers of money can flow to government officials, period.”

Artemenko insists that he and Prince never acted corruptly in their dealings, in Ukraine or elsewhere. Sure Jan. 🙄