Thread by @ClimateAudit

in March 2014, following US-backed coup in Ukraine, US announced FBI and Treasury agents would help recover "some of the billions it says went missing" under previous govt. voanews.com/a/washington-r…

@MarthaJenniferT I realize that these names and backstories are hard to follow, but anyone interested in the Ukraine controversies ought to be patient. It's a different story about Shokin and Kulyk than the one in controversy, but sheds light on character and motives.

By Sept 2015( or more likely August), Chornovol realized that Kasko's rage in Shokin's office was disguising a more troubling issue: for some reason, Kasko himself had blocked the appeal to Latvia while blaming Shokin both publicly and to his US handlers ukrinform.ua/rubric-polytic…

a year later, looking back, Chornovol described Kasko's technique: his message was always betrayal by Prosecutor General Office. For three different PGs. But in each case, the betrayal was by Kasko, beloved by US Embassy chornovol.info/en/temnyky-por…

in late 2015, just as Biden and US Embassy were hunting Shokin, Shokin went around the disloyal Kasko who was obfuscating the Latvia request and mandated Latvia to allow prosecutor Oleksandr Kashulsky to review the Latvian materials. blogs.pravda.com.ua/authors/chorno…

Chornovol reported that shortly after prosecutor Kashulsky got access to Latvian information, he was removed from the Latvian case (Kurchenko) by Deputy Prosecutor General David Sakvarildze who was allied with Kasko. Both were more or less US/Biden agents.

concurrently, a prosecutor who was subordinate to Sakvarlidze, brought a notice of criminal suspicion against Kashulsky's father

Chronovol reported that the "crime" charged against Kashulsky's father was that he had dismantled a derelict workshop on a plot of land that he owned. blogs.pravda.com.ua/authors/chorno…

back to events in fall 2015 following Kasko's failure to properly serve required paperwork to Latvia. At the time Kasko was a candidate (favored by U.S.) to be the new Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor

however, Chornovol discovered that Kasko had corruptly acquired two apartments during his appointment as a prosecutor. In 2008, a developer gave two apartments to Proscutor General Office (as a payoff for permits). Kasko got one and "privatized" it blogs.pravda.com.ua/authors/chorno…

back to events in fall 2015 following Kasko's failure to properly serve required paperwork to Latvia. At the time Kasko was a candidate (favored by U.S.) to be the new Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor

however, Chornovol discovered 📷… that Kasko had corruptly acquired two apartments during his appointment as a prosecutor. In 2008, a developer gave two apartments to Proscutor General Office (as a payoff for permits). Kasko got one and "privatized" it blogs.pravda.com.ua/authors/chorno…

meanwhile, as Kasko was apparently frustratingcontacts with Latvia, there was a clock ticking: Latvia was scheduled to seize the arrested $81.5 million in February 2016 for its own budget if Ukraine didn't establish their case by then. And Kasko and Sakvarildze had done nothing.

this story intersects with an important plotline in December 2015: four Ukrainian prosecutors were invited to Washington to meet with top U.S. officials (including later "whistleblower" Eric Ciaramella) starting on January 19, 2016.

at the January 19-21, 2016, the Ukrainian prosecutors were tasked by U.S. officials (Ciaramella, Zentos etc) to investigate payments by the Party of Regions to U.S. persons (i.e. Paul Manafort). DOJ official Jeffrey Cole agreed to do so on behalf of Ukrainian prosecutors.

Four Ukrainian prosecutors had been invited to the meeting: Kasko, Sakvaridze plus Sytnyk and Kholodnitski. Shokin refused permission for Kasko to attend. The U.S. Embassy objected vehemently. facebook.com/photo?fbid=102…
ukrweekly.com/uwwp/shokin-ka…

as discussed a couple of years, the association of firing Shokin with approval of the IMF loan also emerged publicly for the first time on January 21, 2016 during these meetings

https://twitter.com/ClimateAudit/status/1220217310054637568

here is a new detail on the January 2016 meetings from Telizhenko: unusually, the meeting with Ukrainian officials had been set up by U.S. officials without informing the Ukrainian embassy in the U.S.

He learned about the meetings at the last minute and attended first meeting (hosted by NSC officials Eric Ciaramella and Liz Zentos) by contacting Zentos at the last minute. Karen Greenaway was also at the NSC meeting (new info).

Jeff Cole (DOJ in Kyiv) was apparently very hostile to Telizhenko for unknown reasons and Telizhenko was excluded from all but one of the subsequent meetings in the agenda. (Telizhenko's other attendance was at meeting with Raymond Hulser, Public Integrity Office, on New York Ave

Sidenote: we recently noted that Durham Report briefly discussed Hulser's rejection of efforts to investigate Clinton Foundation a couple of weeks later. Durham contrasted with Crossfire opening, but contrast to the opening on Manafort in January 2016 even more apt.

on February 12, 2016, Prosecutor General Office (Shokin) formally opened investigation into Kasko's fraud in the acquisition of apartments: see Boyko's excellent article here naspravdi.today/en/2019/12/10/…

Boyko's article also stated that Kasko's case was one of the four cases that, in January 2017, US ambassador Yovanovich instructed Lutsenko to drop. Boyko said that Yovanovich's testimony to impeachment committee was "pure science fiction".

three days after the PGO filed notice of criminal investigation of Kasko, Kasko resigned claiming "obstruction by Shokin". Once again blaming others for what he himself had done. archive.kyivpost.com/article/conten…

on Feb 1, 2016, Chornovol commented on Kasko resignation. She agreed that his resignation was a "disgrace", but for opposite reason than Kyiv Post: she thought Kasko should have gone to prison. blogs.pravda.com.ua/authors/chorno…

Chornovol re-iterated her critique that Kasko, who headed the International Department, was supposed to organize recovery of assets, but did nothing except constantly blame other officials (who were then targeted by U.S. Embassy)

Chornovol bitterly complained that right up to resignation on Feb 15, 2016, Kasko had frustrated all efforts for Ukrainian prosecutors to acquire the Latvian information and Latvian case as March 10 deadline approached. When Kasko would blame Shokin and media would praise Kasko.

during this period, as Chornovol was publicly criticizing Kasko, she, Shokin and others were secretly working behind the scenes for the seizure of the much larger tranche of Kurchenko money at Oschadbank. Secretly to avoid frustration by Kasko and his supporters.

in May 2017 here , Chornovol explained big legal problem in converting "arrested" funds at Oschadbank to Ukr govt. They had been arrested in a case (Arbuzov) where losses were a tiny fraction of arrested funds. Rest would be released on conviction. ukrinform.ua/rubric-polytic…

in August 2015 (just after Kasko's obfuscation of smaller tranche in Latvia became clear), Chornovol and Tyshchenko met with Shokin (and presumably his deputy Roman Govda) to discuss options on arrested Oschadbank funds.

One option was to drop Arbuzov case and confiscate funds as "unclaimed". But Shokin observed sensibly that the "public will tear me apart if I close the Arbuzov case", as the disloyal Kasko was already doing what he could to remove Shokin.

The larger problem was that Ukraine (according to Chornovol narrative) lacked a law that enabled the government to take possession of assets of sanctioned individuals. The U.S. routinely seized money belong to designated opponents all over the world, but Ukraine had no equivalent

So Chornovol, then a member of parliament, worked with Shokin and his deputy Roman Govda to rapidly introduce a bill to the Ukrainian parliament (the Rada) similar to Latvia in which funds could be confiscated if owner doesn't confirm legality or is in hiding.

however, during the process of assembling coalition support for the bill, "it was covered with political frills - the names of the 'victims' of the future special confiscation" - Yanukovych, Kurchenko etc. Though as Chornovol observed, naming of individuals was unnecessary.

Chornovol's bill, as embellished by political naming, was introduced on Sept 1, 2015 and was vehemently opposed by mainstream "anti-corruptionists" due to the naming of individuals. e.g. opposition by Pylypenko here unn.com.ua/uk/exclusive/1…

Chornovol alleged (much later) that Pylypenko was connected to the same law firm as Kasko and Andriy Portnov, a firm that had represented Yanukovych and other asset hiders. chornovol.info/en/temnyky-por…

Leshchenko, who had recently been a Reagan-Faskell Fellow of NED and soon-to-be pal of Victoria Nuland and McCain Foundation, vehemently opposed the law on Sept 11, 2015 , savaging Tyshchenko in process. blogs.pravda.com.ua/authors/lesche…

Kolomoisky and other oligarchs also opposed the Chornovol(-Shokin) special confiscation bill and it was sidelined by the end of September just as US ambassador Pyatt was slagging the Prosecutor General Office for not doing enough, while praising Kasko and Sakvarildze.

Chornovol observed (later) that on Sept 15, 2015, Onyshchenko, a prominent oligarch allied with Poroshenko, bought rights to seized funds (through offshore company) for 20 cents on dollar and then persuaded Tymoshenko faction to oppose confiscation law. blogs.pravda.com.ua/authors/chorno…

Tymoshenko (shown below whispering with Onyshchenko) was, of course, a long-time favorite of Hillary Clinton and Victoria Nuland. The Mueller investigation spent a lot of time investigating the Skadden Arps report (commissioned by Manafort) on her corruption trial.

in any event, by October 2, 2015 (when Chornovol wrote her blistering attack on U.S. favorite Kasko), her special confiscation bill had been sidelined in the Ukrainian parliament. Pyatt and Nuland were quiet on its defeat, as attacks intensified on Shokin, its silent co-author

over next two years, Chornovol regularly re-introduced a bill authorizing confiscation of funds under special circumstances, but each time was defeated. In May 2017, she revealed that the bills were a way to "throw enemy off track" while they focused on Kurchenko criminal case

the decapitation of Shokin in March 2016 removed a key ally. Lutsenko assured the People's Front faction (Yatsenuyk, Chornovol, Pashinsky) that he would support special confiscation. (I don't know why auto-translation "liked to feed rabbits" means.)

Lutsenko was even prepared to take the heat and criticism of closing the Arbuzov case and seizing the funds as ?unclaimed?, but Govda, still involved despite Shokin decapitation, observed that this loophole no longer worked due to a recent "small amendment" in the Rada

a new figure now emerges into operation - a clever prosecutor who finally succeeded in confiscating Oschadbank funds.
In closing days of Trump admin, this prosecutor (Kulyk) was sanctioned by US government for "promotion of fraudulent and unsubstantiated allegations" on Biden

Chornovol reported that the eventually successful "plan number three" was "invented and implemented" by Konstantyn Kulyk, who she met in April 2016. During process, Kulyk was harassed and opposed by NABU and Sytnyk (an attendee at Jan 2016 Washington meeting with Biden cadres)

in February 2016, the investigation of Kasko's apartment criminality had forced his resignation. There's an important and interesting Biden-Poroshenko tape on Feb 15, 2016 in which Poroshenko reported Shokin's resignation to Joe, even tho Shokin had done nothing wrong.

but Shokin appears to have walked back from his resignation shortly after. Maybe he was re-invigorated by the long overdue removal of Kasko. Or maybe it was something else. But it took another 6 weeks for Biden to succeed in decapitating Shokin.

in one of his very last acts as Prosecutor General (prior to his removal on March 28, 2016), Shokin fired David Sakvarildze, the ambitious Biden cadre from Sakaashvili and Georgia, who had been allied with Kasko as U.S. agents within the Ukrainian Prosecutor General Office.

when Lutsenko was appointed as Prosecutor General in April 2016, (as is known in our circles), he was immediately besieged by Dem fixers Blue Star Strategies seeking an end to Shokin's investigation of Burisma (which they accomplished in last days of Obama admin in early Jan 2017

but the exclusive fixation on Burisma has led western commenters to overlook other equally or more important milestones: even tho Latvia
funds had been lost due to Kasko obfuscation, Lutsenko re-invigorated the Kurchenko case, a decision ultimately leading to the $1.5 billion

in particular, Lutsenko assigned the case to prosecutor Konstantyn Kulyk who had made progress on the case in early 2014, before being exiled by Prosecutor General prior to Shokin. In 2015-early 2016, Kulyk was a military prosecutor.

Chornovol reported that Kulyk immediately made breakthroughs through investigation and arrest of key witnesses. She noted, in passing, the arrest of Oleg Katsuba, ex-deputy head Naftogaz (see also ) and "Boyko Towers" controversy (two rigs in Black Sea) archive.kyivpost.com/article/conten…

meanwhile, just as Kulyk initiates actual anti-corruption charges, NABU, the Ukrainian "anti-corruption" agency controlled by U.S. Embassy, turned its sights on Kulyk himself. Chronovol described these events laconically in her memoir interview

on Jun 29, 2016, the day on which Kulyk was scheduled to oppose appeals of two Kurchenko subordinates (Oleksandr Sukhomlyn and Andriy Koshel), Sytnyk of NABU (an attendee at Washington meeting in Jan 2015) sent 15 NABU investigators to raid Kulyk's home pravda.com.ua/news/2016/06/2…

the NABU "suspicion" against Kulyk was published on Jul 1, 2016 Inter alia, they accused Kulyk and his wife of "going abroad for vacation together twice", including the shocking allegation that they had gone "to Bulgaria for 10 days by car". pravda.com.ua/news/2016/07/1…

NABU also accused Kulyk of buying a parking space for approximately US$4000. At a time, when Kolomoisky had been internationally reported to have embezzled $1.5 billion of U.S. aid, Sytnyk was preoccupied with things like a 10-day road trip to Bulgaria
harpers.org/2015/08/undeli…

Chornovol was concerned about NABU's case against Kulyk just as Kulyk was making progress in the Kurchenko case and went to see Sytnyk. Sytnyk said that the suspicion had been issued by Kupriy (a member of parliament associated with Kolomoisky) ukrinform.ua/rubric-polytic…

in reaction to Sytnyk's attack on Kulyk, Chornovol resolved to help Kulyk.

Chornovol (and one or more associates - maybe Tyshchenko, Pashinsky?) then met with Kulyk. This would be in July 2016.

This is about one month before Sytnyk released Manafort references in Black Ledger, leading to the decapitation of Manafort that Biden and Poroshenko laughed about on Aug 19, arguably completing a plan launched at January 19-21 meetings in Washington

but Chornovol's meeting with Kulyk was not under supervision of US Embassy. They talked about the unresolved problem of how to confiscate the $1.5 billion frozen at Oschadbank. Kulyk said that he knew how to do it without the Chornovol-Shokin draft law that had been defeated.

Chornovol was persuaded by Kulyk and, in turn, persuaded Pashinsky, who persuaded Lutsenko. Nine months later, Kulyk's plan succeeded.

The next 9 months were fraught with obstacles. They waited and waited. Kulyk said "soon". (Keep in mind that the same Kulyk was later accused and sanctioned in US of disseminating "Russian disinformation" by same people that assessed Hunter laptop as "Russian disinformation")

@SpoonerThings I've also found that I've fallen into the habit of endlessly polishing substack drafts rather than finishing any of them, whereas I worry less about a thread meandering off a little and then having to return to base.

@SpoonerThings But yes, threads like this with substantive original research that you don't see anywhere else deserve a proper long-form presentation and I should do it, but I have less energy and focus than when I was younger.

in or about December 2016, Kulyk's operation appears to have been in serious jeopardy, noted briefly in passing by Chornovol. I only have a glimpse of what this incident was about.

on Dec 21, 2016, Gennady Yuryev, the former deputy head of Naftogaz, committed suicide before he got be questioned by Kulyk's team. Yuryev was suffering from cancer.
ctrana.news/articles/analy…

let me retrace some interesting events in July 2016 following Sytnyk's raid on Kulyk's apartment. On July 4, 2016, Kulyk, then leading asset recovery efforts, was suspended from office. Kulyk was still military prosecutor, tho working on asset recovery. gordonua.com/ukr/news/polit…

Kulyk appealed and on July 13, 2016, was re-instated as a military prosecutor. gordonua.com/news/politics/…

the next day, Sytnyk (a U.S. favorite) released tapes of Kulyk conversations to Vitaliy Shabunin, a Soros-backed "grant-eater" (Chornovol's term). volodymyrboyko.com/2016/08/29/%D1…

Journalist Volodymyr Boyko observed that the crime alleged against Kulyk was not sufficiently serious to enable a wiretapping warrant (and was not even a crime in 2011-15 during events) and accused Sytnyk and NABU of fabricating warrant information volodymyrboyko.com/2016/08/29/%D1…

Boyko reported that a few weeks later, on Aug 20, 2016, Sytnyk and NABU employees "attacked" Kulyk and tried to "kidnap" him in the middle of Kyiv. volodymyrboyko.com/2016/09/19/%D0…

a few days later, Kulyk noticed that he was being tailed and photographed the agents and filed a complaint with "Kyiv city prosecutor Govda" (who presumably is the Roman Govda who Chornovol praised). Boyko showed pictures of the "feds".

in his Sep 2016 article on these incidents, Boyko described Sytnyk and Kholodnitsky - both of whom had attended the January 2016 meeting with Ciaramella and FBI in Washington - as a "duo of scumbags for whom legality is an empty sound" volodymyrboyko.com/2016/09/19/%D0…

I remind readers that these two "scumbags" had been the Ukrainian officials (Sytnuk, Kholodnitsky) who had announced the Manafort references in the Black Ledger - see - that Biden and Poroshenk had laughed about stephenmcintyre.substack.com/p/biden-manafo…

@SpoonerThings The writing problem that I'm encountering in these Ukrainian intrigues is that there is essentially zero western reporting on the local context of Shokin, Kulyk and Derkach, other than disinformation from western media.

@SpoonerThings in blog days, I'd have been able to write about a dozen short blog articles on the components of the intrigues discussed in this thread. Unfortunately, without context, each of the components is incomprehensible - just some Ukrainian names doing something or other to one another

@SpoonerThings in large part, I've plunged into this thread just to write something down before I forget. I apologize that it's too much stream of consciousness. But the intrigues are complicated. A second draft would undoubtedly be better. But to get there, you need to put up with first draft

on March 28, 2017, Kulyk finally obtained a court order in which the Ukrainian government took possession of the $1.5 billion of frozen funds, accomplishing a major asset recovery while FBI and DOJ accomplished nothing and, even in 2019, had recovered nothing.

the court order had a 30-day appeal. Kulyk, Chornovol and others kept stone quiet as the 30 days ran.

on April 28, 2017, Lutsenko announced the successful confiscation of the $1.5 billion "obshchak" attributed to Yanukovych
rus.lb.ua/news/2017/04/2…

Kulyk had successfully obtained a court order through a plea agreement with a Yanukovych subordinate (Arkadii Kashkin) who appears to have had signing authority over the bank accounts. This was the strategy that had been kept so secret from Ukr political factions and U.S. Embassy

Excerpts of the decision were published with Lutsenko's announcement, but the full decision remained classified. It was eventually published by AlJazeera in Jan 2018 rus.lb.ua/news/2017/04/2…
aljazeera.com/mritems/Docume…

Soros-backed "anti-corruption" Antac, in a very sour article, observed a key point of Kulyk tactics:
Kramatorsk City Court (on front lines of war vs separatists) was "loyal to the Military Prosecutor's Office" i.e. not in pocket of rival Kyiv politicians
antac.org.ua/en/news/burst-…

a couple of months later, it was announced that, on Apr 14, 2017, soon after successful decision, Kulyk had been appointed deputy head of International Legal Department, the very department where Kasko had previously frustrated recovery in Latvia and UK rus.lb.ua/news/2017/04/2…

on June 28, 2017, Kulyk was honored by President of Ukraine with special award for "his significant personal contribution to state-building" gordonua.com/ukr/news/polit…

on May 2, 2017, four days after Lutsenko's announcement of the successful completion of the operation that Chronovol (and Shokin) had begun two years earlier, Chornovol wrote a somewhat wistful recolection chornovol.info/pro-scho-mriyu…

Chornovol bitterly recalled the personal criticism from media, even the professional "anti-corruptionists" (who she called grant-eaters.) She praised a small group including Kulyk, Tyshchenko and Roman Govda, the deputy assigned by Shokin when they discovered Kasko's obfuscation

on May 29, 2017, Chornovol gave a long interview (later re-published in 2019 here ), tying together much of the storyukrinform.ua/rubric-politic…
chornovol.info/istoriya-pro-k…

two weeks after Kulyk received his service award from Poroshenko for his role in recovering the $1.5 billion, Kulyk appeared in court as a defendant in the case brought against him by Sytnyk and NABU (who worked closely with US Embassy)
gordonua.com/ukr/news/polit…

Chornovol, who, whatever her faults may be, was unafraid and loyal to her allies, spoke eloquently in court in support of Kulyk, crediting him for recovery of the $1. billion and blaming oligarchs for fomenting case in "disgraceful" court

as I proceed through this chronology of events, I remind readers once again that Kulyk was subsequently a major figure in both events leading to Trump impeachment in 2019 and emergence of censorship complex in 2020 to suppress information adverse to Biden

in these events, Kulyk was portrayed by DOJ and US intel agencies as a villain. By the same agencies that said that Hunter laptop was "Russian disinformation". But was their condemnation of Kulyk justified?