“Millionaires are making money and billionaires are making history,” Ukrainian billionaire Viktor Pinchuk boasted to a group of journalists in July, while standing with his back to the Livadia Palace on the Crimean riviera, where Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt held their historic conference in the closing phases of World War Two.
Ukraine’s second wealthiest man, Mr Pinchuk is busy trying to remake his image. Married to former president Leonid Kuchma’s daughter, he was a big winner from close ties to the state during the previous regime. However, since Mr Kuchma was ousted in the Orange Revolution in the winter of 2004/05, Mr Pinchuk has suffered more than any other oligarch from the change of guard. He did not bother to defend his parliamentary seat in March’s elections and is trying to recast himself as a “clean hands” captain of industry.
