Talk:Rinat Akhmetov

Page used in ongoing email spam campaign (Feb 2021)

This wikipedia page is currently linked as reference in an ongoing email spam campagin that claims Mr. Akhmetov wants to give away some of his money. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.247.42.203 (talk) 09:39, 12 February 2021 (UTC)

a

Why are you so intent on pushing the point of view that this man is a criminal when he has never been charged with a crime?

Hi. First of all, let me thank you for contributing to Wikipedia on such an underdeveloped topic as Ukraine. Your input has been reasonable, although breaking some encyclopedia rules. I think I did my best to keep your info and present your POV restyled. Recently, I added links to the sources explaining the wide-spread image of Mr.Akhmetov as a gangster. Judging by the fact that you've deleted your own above-posted statement, we finally coming to an agreement :)

However, please don't blank any pages again unless it is YOUR talk page. Talking about your pages, I invite to become a full-scale Wikipedian with a username, signed posts and other info that would help interacting with you. Best wishes, Ukrained 23:17, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

Rada Member

Reminder note to me for when article protection from editing stops on October 26, 2010: Akhmetov is member of Rada since 2006. — Mariah-Yulia • Talk to me! 02:36, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

Disputed information?

There seems to be an averse reaction by at least one editor in regards to Akhmetov's connections to organized crime. What, if any, are the drawbacks from these reports that constitute "libel"? From what I see they are mentioned in government reports and academic journals, so it's very much a documented part of his biography, like it or not. Comments?--Львівське (talk) 03:42, 27 October 2010 (UTC)

He is widely reported to have ties to organized crime - this sentence has been deleted as still seems to be poorly sourced; being claimed the point of view of majority, still though needs to substantiate it by more convincing sources. Only two references were provided, one is for Kyivpost paragraph redirecting to a dead link[1] , the other link seems to belong to a category of lnks to be avoided due to the fact it requires payment[2] . — Preceding unsigned comment added by Orekhova (talk • contribs) 07:39, 8 June 2011 (UTC)

WP:ELREG, which you mention for the second link, is a guideline for external links, not for references. Pay sites may be used as sources in articles. —C.Fred (talk) 14:00, 8 June 2011 (UTC)

Page protection

When one of the alleged "unverified libels" is the addition of a scholarly journal as a source, it's pretty clear which version of the page in the dispute to protect. To the editor(s) attempting to remove the content, please explain, on this talk page, how the cited sources are flawed. If discussion yields consensus to remove them, then they can be removed. —C.Fred (talk) 05:04, 27 October 2010 (UTC)

And just for the record, here is the quote from the page cited from Post-Soviet Affairs:

Renat Akhmetov, the richest Ukrainian oligarch and one of the informal leaders of the Party of Regions, had to leave Ukraine for some time after the “Orange Revolution” to avoid an investigation into his alleged role in organized crime in the Donetsk region. In 2005, Borys Kolesnikov, a rich businessman and a friend of Renat Akhmetov since the their alleged involvement in organized crime in the late 1980s and early 1990s and his close associate in the Party of Regions, was arrested by the Orange government on charges of extortion and conspiracy to assassinate a rival Donetsk businessman. In 2005, Yushchenko had initiated the successful reversal of Renat Akhmetov and Viktor Pinchuk’s Kuchma-backed non-competitive privatization of Kryvorizhstal, the largest Ukrainian steel mill (which later sold for $4.7 billion). However, Renat Akhmetov’s political influence rose significantly after the investigations against him and Borys Kolesnikov were dropped, and the Party of Regions formed the government in August 2006.

Just to make clear that nothing is being misconstrued or a POV is being pushed on this matter. --Львівське (talk) 05:14, 27 October 2010 (UTC)

Interesting article for future editing:

here. — Mariah-Yulia • Talk to me! 03:03, 17 December 2010 (UTC) and regarding Master3241's accusations of libel, here--Львівське (talk) 09:29, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

A reliable source?

if you cite an allegedly official report of Ministry of Internal Affairs, why would not you provide a link to this report stored at the official website of the Ministry, instead of having referred to the website of The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which is an investigative journalism program and by no means is the official source of Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Orekhova (talk • contribs) 06:21, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

mind your POV, please

neither is any reliable English-language source provided, nor the Wiki's NPOV policy is observed. The word "thug" is offensive and endorses a particular point of view by an individual journalist and can be considered as a biased statement. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Orekhova (talk • contribs) 11:20, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

would you prefer "hired goon"?Львівське (talk) 23:44, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

The machine-translated quote is "Akhmetov's past is also somewhat obscure. According to its officials, he 'made a lot of money playing poker' in the years preceding the collapse of the Soviet Union. Already the journalist Serhiy Kuzin, author of Donetsk Mafia, says the billionaire would have worked like the mafia thug, which will execute the orders of several people."[3] Is there a Portuguese speaker in the house? I'm wondering if "strongman" might be the better English approximation of the term, but I'd like that confirmed by someone who's good with the language to make sure that's what the writer of the article means (the article being cited was not written by Kuzin). —C.Fred (talk) 00:16, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

The word in question here is "capanga" which also google-translates to 'henchman' or 'hitman' (I guess depending on context)--Львівське (talk) 00:23, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

It was not the incorrect translation that was referred to, but the appropriateness of labeling such controversial names to a public figure, without even backing it by reliable third-party sources, which is contrary to Wiki policies as for Biographies of living persons and Neutral point of view.Orekhova (talk) 09:11, 6 June 2011 (UTC)

Everything in the article has been backed up fairly reliably. All of the previous accusations of "libel" were dismissed once everything was properly cited and presented in an agreed upon, neutral, manner. I don't think there's anything inappropriate with the labelling as it stands, but if one of the above synonyms works I wouldn't mind, as long as the original source's point is not skewed.--Львівське (talk) 03:42, 8 June 2011 (UTC)

Mr Rinat Akhmetov was officially elected the member of Ukrainian parliament and such insinuatory statements should be backed by any official reliable secondary sources. Any official proofs of participation of Mr Rinat Akhmetov in any activities of a criminal character were neither identified, officially court-fixed nor introduced here so that Mr Akhmetov’s name is associated with any of a crime. The whole section concerning alleged links to organized crime falls within Wiki policy about attack pages due to biased statements and weak information sources. An allegedly official report of Ministry of Internal Affairs is cited yet no reference to the official Ministry website is provided; quote from Serhiy Kuzin’s Donetsk Mafia is abusing the Wiki policies re verifiability, NPOV and Biographies of living persons, as non-neutral language and statements based on rumors and personal opinion are used. In 2008, the Donetsk Region Court of Appeal declared the book by Serhiy Kuzin and Borys Penchuk Donetsk Mafia the plagiarism and ordered to pay indemnities for copyright violation to the regional weekly “Kriminal-express” A.Kuchinskiy; Borys Penchuk, the co-author of the book and Head of Anticorruption Fund, was under official accusation of Donetsk Region Prosecution Office for deliberately misleading reporting of committing offense and extortion and was sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment. [4][5] Orekhova (talk) 09:11, 6 June 2011 (UTC)

This just reeks of corruption leading the law. I don't think we can really take what happens in Ukraine all too seriously, at least from a historical standpoint. If matters happened after the fact disputing his past that can be included, but it doesn't retroactively rewrite what has already been alleged or proven.--Львівське (talk) 03:39, 8 June 2011 (UTC)

Bailing out somebody does not make you part of the crime. Hence I removed something that made him look part of a crime with no sources to back up he was. — Yulia Romero • Talk to me! 18:06, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

Protected, pending constant edit warring

Guys, I have protected this page due to the constant edit warring on this page. BLP policy states that we must remove any factually incorrect, dubious, and uncited information on pages of living persons due to legal and libel concerns of the such. Information from reliable and serious sources can be mentioned; again, we should be careful not to misuse this ability and not use any unverifiable sources or speculation.

Don't edit war and rather constructively edit the page, providing reliable sources for anything that we state in this article otherwise it must be removed as per BLP policy. If anything let's create a sandboxed version that is compliant with Wikipedia policy, addresses all of our concerns, and is properly attributed on this page here.

Scouring the internet online for a little while, I have found two such sources, both of which qualify as RS;

• the OCCRP (here) "Rinat Akhmetov, the country’s richest man and member of parliament, won the judgment despite being mentioned in a report by the Chief department on organized crime titled, “Overview of the Most Dangerous Organized Crime Structures in Ukraine.” It listed him and hundreds of others. The report lists..."
• The Nation (here) "Shortly after the Orange Revolution, a murder investigation was launched against the country's richest oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov, Yanukovich's main backer. Akhmetov fled the country. In exile in Monaco, he turned to..."

Both are known and reliable publications. These can be used and referenced in the article, however we must be careful not to imply anything that is not true, just to state what is known based upon reliable sources that we may come across and properly cite and reference them as such, again following proper BLP policy.

Other internet sources that I have come across have only provided *allegations that Akhmetov participated in organized crime without persecution (which is true, he was never officially indicted on any charges). Again, these allegations must be cited and referenced with reliable sources (newspaper articles, *official reports, etc). Would be beneficial if we can find a proper newspaper articles from RS such as Korrespondent or Zerkalo Nedeli, although I am sure they are just as cautious of publishing potentially untrue information like we are with our BLP policy. --ddima/talk 21:06, 14 June 2011 (UTC)

Just in case, to avoid violation of BLP policy, I have edited out the disputed information <!-- --> like so until the issue is resolved here. There is a citation which is a deadlink, unless it can be found elsewhere, we cannot use it and it must be removed. --ddima/talk 21:16, 14 June 2011 (UTC)

---

Dear DDima, thank you for your concern and suggestions. My thinking is that to this point it is better to leave article as it is; though not disputing the existence of rumors and allegations as for Rinat Akhmetov criminal ties, I think it is better to omit them here unless they are verified by truly reliable sources.Orekhova (talk) 07:08, 15 June 2011 (UTC)

This is only a temporary resolution, again WP should try to portray articles in a true and accurate light, always maintaining verifiability and accuracy and even if there are allegations they should be mentioned in the article with appropriate RS. --ddima/talk 15:34, 15 June 2011 (UTC)

Agree, I am not against mentioning allegations, but they should not be presented as facts. Even if mentioned in reliable sources, allegation is just an wild guess unless confirmed by official accusation or judgement, and should be named accordingly.--Orekhova (talk) 06:10, 16 June 2011 (UTC)

Dima, I don't think a resolution can be made here. The content itself is legitimate, and CFred was fine with it and even helped in creating it after the last few attacks by Akhemotov-censor accounts. These 2 now pop up with the same arguments, even with the proper sourcing. Of course they will be fine with the content removed, they wanted it removed, but without any good reason. I feel that this should be a matter left to veteran users or maybe consult with an expert on the subject, not current makeup (vets vs. new accounts created solely to editwar on this page). I wouldn't be surprised if Orekhova/Komul were socks, either of eachother or of the previously banned users who did the same content removal attacks. --Львівське (talk) 07:51, 15 June 2011 (UTC)

I have seen the history of the page and have also thought about every possibility. Then if anything, let's take this matter over to WP:BLP/N and see what they do about the matter over there and what they would suggest is accurate/verifiable that should be kept in the article. --ddima/talk 15:34, 15 June 2011 (UTC)

While this is a delayed response, considering the recent edits and my willingness to see this process through (I took a wikibreak last time in the middle of it) I'd be willing to participate over at BLP/N.--Львівське (говорити) 18:34, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

External link with a line break

{{editprotected}} Hello, could someone fix the broken reflink with a line break please?:

• [http://zik.com.ua/en/news/2009/12/15/208730

Petro Pysarchuk (Lviv) among top 10 philanthropists of Ukraine], Z I K (December 15, 2009)]

--Ben Ben (talk) 16:13, 18 June 2011 (UTC)

Hello, this article is protected so far. Orekhova (talk) 07:12, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

I know, but as the edit is uncontroversial, any administrator could make the edit to the protected page. Have found the adequate tag now.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Ben Ben (talk • contribs) 16:28, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

 Done. I have removed the wikilink within the reference, which has no use and upsets the format in the reflist. JohnCD (talk) 20:37, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

Thanks.--Ben Ben (talk) 18:06, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

Another revision rejected as violating BLP policy

Another revision done by Львівське is rejected as the latest version was restructured in more logical way and contained only verified facts supported by reliable sources. Revision by Львівське is violating the Wiki BLP policy , as containing obsolete, controversial information backed up by non-reliable sources. Orekhova (talk) 07:21, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

Comment from Ukraine: In my opinion, version by Orekhova is correct.

Revision by Львівське contain rather unofficial info. Any user can verify it in articles in ru: and in uk: Wikis with any on-line translator.

-- George Chernilevsky ^talk 20:34, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

George, no offense, but what do online translations of the ru or ua wikis have to do with this? Orekhova and Komul are blanking properly cited scholarly sources, most of which are in English.--Львівське (talk) 05:38, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

Revision by Львівське is rolled back in order to keep chronological order and facts, properly supported by reliable sources. For instance, such points as education, etc. contain plain erratic information, according to Львівське version; other statements are not supported enough to correspond WIKIs BLP and verifiability policies. --Orekhova (talk) 06:19, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

You need to be specific in what you are referring to as "libel" or improper sources. You cannot delete en mass and claim that every single scholarly source is just wrong. The links of Akhmetov to crime are too far, too vast, to censor. Anyone with Google can find these links, its public knowledge from reliable sources. I'm going to revamp the section, with more links, and more sources, and you can have fun trying to delete it all then - as it will just prove you are engaging in disruptive editing.--Львівське (talk) 14:40, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

Edition out

The full section either should be removed as violating the WIKI BLP, verifiability and NPOV policy or fully rewritten, avoiding presentation of allegations as facts. Now come the details.

Statement "Akhmetov is widely alleged to have ties to organized crime" is supported by a broken link. www.golocalprov.com (“GoLocalProv”) is an Internet website based in Providence, Rhode Island , published in 2010 allegations much like those retracted by the Kyiv Post etc. Subsequently, the Providence Journal engaged in a detailed review of the allegations on GoLocalProv’s site and published an investigative piece that fully discredited those allegations and the sources on which they were based. The Providence Journal concluded that “key elements of the [GoLocalProv] story are false or unproven” and that the story presented “suspicions, suggestions, innuendo, and conspiracy theories” as fact - here is the supporting link http://www.politifact.com/rhode-island/article/2010/oct/23/website-ignores-key-facts-link-chafee-organized-cr/ so it is either more reasonable to delete this reference or expand to reflect the whole story, which seems to me less attributive to do.

Fair enough, this would help debunk the Chaffee allegations, however, it is an example of another allegation linking him to the criminal world. Something like, "to which he denies" could be added to the original statement.--Львівське (talk) 17:11, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Link leading to Ivan Katchanovski work doi:10.2747/1060-586X.24.4.351 seems to be the original research, as containing no direct juridical proofs of Rinat Akhmetov criminal ties, except author’s theories and allegations.

WP:OR is when you or I make assertions or conclusions based on things we find the source material. The source material here, buy a guy as renowned as Ivan Katchanovski, cannot be OR in its own right.--Львівське (talk) 17:11, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Phrase "Serhiy Kuzin, author of Donetsk Mafia: Anthology, claims Akhmetov held the role of a mafia thug in his early years" contains link http://veja.abril.com.br/130509/p_076.shtml again, why would be a quote of non-reliable Portugese-language source is provided (here and further below), while citing the Ukrainian journalist? Nor the Wiki's NPOV policy is observed, while containing biased point of view. The book Donetsk mafia, published in 2006, where the authors claimed Rinat Akhmetov had had criminal background, appeared to be a copy-paste compilation of Intenet publications and was declared the plagiarism in 2008 by Donetsk Region Court of Appeal, the authors (Serhiy Kuzin and Boris Penchuk) were ordered to pay indemnities for copyright violation. Proof links: http://news.liga.net/news/N0865530.html http://24.ua/news/show/id/75131.htm http://www.segodnya.ua/news/13042007.html http://news2000.com.ua/news/sobytija/v-ukraine/58150

I'm not sure the mixup with the links here, perhaps it's because I didn't have a copy of 'Donetsk Mafia' laying around, but I found it to be another example of the media reporting on these ties. The Donetsk court findings, IMO, are very dubious when you consider that the courts are run by the same mobsters that Kuzin is trying to expose. An addendum may be in order here to clarify or expand on what happened with 'Donetsk Mafia', rather than delete it in its own right. Kuzin remains a very reliable source, and that the courts found this only adds to the controversy (especially when you consider Akhmetov's 'libel wars' and censorship in the media, which should be added to the article).--Львівське (talk) 17:11, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Boris Penchuk, the co-author of the book and Head of Anticorruption Fund, was under official accusation of Donetsk Region Prosecution Office for deliberately misleading reporting of committing offense and extortion and was sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment: http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1275437762

Very Soviet...yikes...--Львівське (talk) 17:11, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Further referred quotes as to Rinat and his brother Igor were allegedly involved in criminal activities supported by links to work of Hans van Zon, are based on allegations and can be considered the original research, containing no direct juridically based evidences of Rinat Akhmetov guilt, such as court judgment documents etc. Neither the below referred sources such as The Nation and Journal of Democracy deliver any proofs of any criminal activities, using instead such non-neutral words as "flee" etc.

It's from a journal article published in a book. It counts as a scholarly source, not OR.--Львівське (talk) 17:11, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Sentence about Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs report contains the only reference to overseas investigative journalism program which by no means is the official source of Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

Sentence mentioning Serhiy Kornich, ex-head of the Interior Ministry's economic crimes department, contains link to interview with Yuri Lutsenko, who is imprisoned now and his statements seem to be biased. No legal evidences to support these statement were mentioned either. --Orekhova (talk) 10:29, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

It's another report "linking" him and should be taken for what its worth. That Lutsenko is in prison now has more to do with Ukraine becoming an authoritarian police-state now under Yanukovych-Akhmetov, rather than whether the source is reliable.--Львівське (talk) 17:11, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Dear Lvivske, your last comment reflects a lack of neutrality in your approach to editing the article. Please, follow the BLP Wiki rules: Neutral point of view, Verifiability. You are trying to turn this article into arena for political debate. Do not forget, that а person who harms another's reputation may be referred to as a defamer. --Komul (talk) 11:34, 20 August 2011 (UTC)

What do I need to verify in that statement? Ukraine's slip into authoritarianism is well documented common knowledge.--Львівське (говорити) 14:49, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

Thank you Komul for bringing this YouTube Channel to the article [6]. It seems like someone is working very closely to the subject in question. Närking (talk) 10:05, 20 August 2011 (UTC)

Alleged links to organized crime section

I added some info and templates for further modification/discussion to the section in order to and Wiki BLP, Verifiability and NPOV policies are observed --Orekhova (talk) 12:02, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

Although I'm too busy to research right now, there most certainly are publications on Akhmetov's own public confession in close relations with organized crime, made in 2005. He then said something like "Talking to such people was the only way to do business in 1990s Ukraine". Somebody may harvest that link. Ukrained (talk) 23:31, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

I've finally gotten around to going over Orekhova's edits and it's very unsettling to see he added some sources which I would deem to be in bad faith, in order to discredit the Kuzin book's veracity. --Львівське (говорити) 02:17, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

Placement

I moved it near the top but it was recently put down. What makes more sense, business or the controversy? Personally, I put it in chronological order, and since that section deals with the 80s and his beginnings, it made sense to do it before business (which starts in 1996, and mostly focuses on 2000+)--Львівське (говорити) 07:47, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

Akhmetov charity quotes

I attempted to remove these but was reverted. Why are they in the article? They are an extreme case of WP:UNDUE and above all are poorly translated gobledy gook. Systemic approaches? The happiness of a child? #Winning? This is a joke, right?--Львівське (говорити) 14:46, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

Orekhova

Could you explain how these could be constructive edits? diff.

• As far as I see you turned "Akhmetov is widely alleged to have ties to organized crime." which is sourced and accurate into the convoluted "Rumors about Rinat Akhmetov' criminal ties are as widespread as disputable. Some journalists and researchers have been speculating on allegedly criminal past of Rinat Akhmetov."
• You then proceeded to delete the entire accurately sourced Kuzin paragraph.
• Reinserted weird < br> markings into the code...?
• Inserted { main|}} links improperly
• Turned all of the info on the foundation and his rankings that I turned into prose back into lists
• Reinserted all of the junk about him visiting orphanages and other WP:UNDUE info
• All of the company info that isn't biographical nor encyclopedic. Can someone explain what the following even means? "these figures are referred to SCM assets value; growth of the value should not be attributed to coming to power of the friendly political party but to a great extent to the decision of the Company's key shareholder, according to which the profit is not distributed"?????

--Львівське (говорити) 16:01, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

I won't argue here about wiki markup; as for what you call non-constructive edits - I'm afraid it is you who are exxagerating criminal theme here via putting dubious statements in each paragraph, even not related to this. Your activities here should fairly be regarded as vandalism, as the whole row of sustaining examples of vandalism actions from your side can be found here, like removing parts about Akhmetov' family, his charity activities - as considered junk by you; you are also persistently replacing paragraphs about alleged crime ties with dubious, biased statements. I did not remove any good sourced content in the past, rather complemented it with legal opinions. Any other allegations on Rinat Akhmetov' complicity for law violations are still allegations as not proven juridically and can be regarded as libel. --Orekhova (talk) 14:30, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Making things up doesn't make your case stronger. I never, as you claim, committed vandalism or removed "his family" (I moved it to an appropriate section and put it into prose from your point form list); I never removed his notable contributions, just condensed and put it into prose and copy-edited it (I removed his giant list of quotes per WIKI policy on quotes, however, which was junk). I never "replaced" paragraphs with biased statements, just included properly sourced material that you don't seem to like. How about you engage in some actual discussion here and point on what is biased, what is NPOV, and what is not properly sourced? You know, rather than making blasee comments and waving your arms about without actual making a concrete point. I've talked enough so far on this page, and in edit summaries, with you ignoring me. Just because alleged activity is not proven does not make it libel. These are notable statements in the media and other reputable sources regarding his past. That is not the definition of libel; I suggest you brush up on your legal rhetoric.--Львівське (говорити) 02:50, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

As far as I can see, Orekhova's only concern in Wikipedia is editing the articles on Rinat Akhmetov, his companies, political accomplices and opponents[7]. It's only logic to assume that she is a biased editor whose actions may fall under the WP:POV and Conflict of interest policies.

To substantiate this claim, some Ukraine-based users could even do some IP-research and possibly find out that the person (ab)using the account in question is a known professional public relations agent employed by either Rinat Akhmetov or one of his front organizations. That could make the whole idea of promoting Mr. Akhmetov through Wikipedia not only failed, but also a major real-life media scandal for him. Many Wikipedians could recall the Wikileaks-related scandal on American PR agencies contracted for tasks that are not only prohibited here, but also punishable by the US laws. The worst-case scenario for Mr. Akmetov would be some anonymous Internet users deciding to protect Wikipedia from his businesses with tools like the LOIC. I hope I wrote enough to stop the vetted outside pressure on this article until its too late for both sides. Ukrained (talk) 04:06, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

I just want to get some actual discussion going rather than the current state of affairs, which is to put tags and headers where they don't belong and petition for page-locking to lack of an actual argument. I think it's plain as day at this point that Orekhova is a PR rep, just like the previous editors who came and went who shouted libel and BLP violations to censor the negative press. Akhmetov is getting ripped apart in the press right now for his illegal/shady acquisitions, and I'd love to include more detail on this affair in the article, but can't because it's locked due to a PR rep doing damage control.--Львівське (говорити) 04:16, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

I hope you could find time to keep all interested users informed of this page' protection developments as well as of all relevant actions of User:Orekhova as well as counteractions. Unfortunately, (s)he forgot to inform us of their protection request[8]. In good faith, I hope. Ukrained (talk) 04:31, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

The request was denied and then put in place anywhere, which kind of irks me.--Львівське (говорити) 05:19, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

It would seem that both BLP noticeboard RfCs and the subsequent lockdowns that have happened to this article resulted in no progress.[9][10] Just making a record of it so hopefully we don't have this timewaster happen again in the future.--Львівське (говорити) 19:17, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

RfC: assumptions on criminal past

Interested users are welcome to have a look at the article and see if there's a real necessity in pushing the assumptions on criminal past of Rinat Akhmetov as it is done by Львівське in every paragraph of the article. Allegations must be referred to as allegations unless properly sourced. --Orekhova (talk) 09:29, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

• RfC Comment - @Orekhova - This a poorly worded RfC. Can you be more specific about what the issue is here? Can you point out the exact lines that you take issue with and why? Skimming over the article, it looks like most of the allegations are sourced. Do you take issue with those sources? NickCT (talk) 12:54, 8 February 2012 (UTC)
  • Dear NickCT, thank you for leaving your comment. First, Mr Akhmetov is the member of Ukrainian parliament and one should be doubly careful about laying such a significant charges against a public servant without having reliable sources. Any official proofs of Rinat Akhmetov' participation in any activities of a criminal character were neither identified or officially court-fixed, and all reference introduced here by Львівське are mostly researches done by western journalists. If you wish some more details:

1. ref. 29 - Katchanovski, Ivan (14). "The Orange Evolution? The "Orange Revolution" and Political Changes in Ukraine". Post-Soviet Affairs 24 (4): 364. doi:10.2747/1060-586X.24.4.351. This is the research paper of employee of Department of Political Science University of Toronto, seems to be WP:OR, as containing no direct juridical proofs of Rinat Akhmetov criminal ties, except author’s theories and allegations; same about ref. 30;
2. ref. 32 seem to back up statement about criminal ties yet the article cited contains no facts;
3. The book "Donetsk Mafia" repeatedly cited here, was fudged by Donetsk journalists, is a copy-paste compilation of Intenet publications and was declared the plagiarism in 2008 by Donetsk Region Court of Appeal, the authors (Serhiy Kuzin and Boris Penchuk) were ordered to pay indemnities for copyright violation. http://news.liga.net/news/N0865530.html http://24.ua/news/show/id/75131.htm http://www.segodnya.ua/news/13042007.html http://news2000.com.ua/news/sobytija/v-ukraine/58150. Borys Penchuk, the co-author of the book and Head of Anticorruption Fund, was under official accusation of Donetsk Region Prosecution Office for deliberately misleading reporting of committing offense and extortion and was sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1275437762;
4. ref. 34 is leading to citing allegedly official report of Ministry of Internal Affairs, yet no reference to the primary source (official Ministry website etc.) is provided;

I can go on, if you wish.
Many sources are cited here by and large, yet no really reliable ones, unfortunately. I don't mind mentioning the controversions, but as I have already emphasized this for many times, rumours should be regarded as rumours.

1. 1 is a scholarly journal;
2. 2 facts?;
3. 3 It also was acclaimed. Your issue is copyright, not that it isn't a good source. The "Chronicle of Donetsk banditry" by Alexander Kuchinsky, which was the source material, has neither been discredited. You provided 3 of the same links (to pad your sources?). Penchuk was charged for extortion, per your link, I fail to see what his personal life has to do with the book.
4. 4 This is leaked information, not unlike wikileaks, why would it be on their official site?--Львівське (говорити) 08:46, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

As for the former sentence "Akhmetov is widely alleged to have ties to organized crime" which started the section, what is the closest a source gets to actually saying that? I guess my main concern with that sentence was the potential for widely to be original research. Jesanj (talk) 20:30, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

A lot of the sources just straight up implicate him so I figured "widely alleged" was a simple way to put it. Your version works too.--Львівське (говорити) 03:21, 7 March 2012 (UTC)

Oops, the sentence was straight from this KP article [11] --Львівське (говорити) 06:33, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

I find it troubling that Orekhova is re-inserting #3 here. Like I said above, her claim about "copy and paste internet" stuff is something she made up and not in the sources. The part about Penchuk is a lie because he was let out of jail; and it was on extortion charges unrelated to Akhmetov or the book, so she's just inserting it to make him/the source look bad.--Львівське (говорити) 04:12, 7 March 2012 (UTC)

"copy-paste" term was used as the book was court-acknowledged plagiarism: it was compiled out of materials from the book by Aleksander Kuchinsky http://censor.net.ua/news/68324/avtorov_knigi_quotdonetskaya_mafiyaquot_obvinili_v_plagiate_i_arestovali_ih_imuschestvo. Second, why would you protest against statement about Penchuk being guilty in extortions though he was officially sentenced for that, and at the same time put the passage about quasi involvement of Rinat Akhmetov into obscure "property issues" based only on opinion of UK Geography Professor? --Orekhova (talk) 13:32, 7 March 2012 (UTC)

1) You wrote "The book was later regarded as copy-paste compilation of Intenet publications" when in reality the book was found to have allegedly/apparently plagiarized from a legit book by Kuchinsky. Why are you calling Kuchinsky's book a "compilation of Internet publications"? This is false information on your part, and it looks intentional since you pulled it from thin air. 2) Penchuk's personal affairs have nothing to do with Akhmetov or this article, and it appears you are only inserting his personal affairs and framing them in a way to discredit him as an author and lead the reader. 3) What "property issues" are you referring to, and who is this "UK geography professor"?--Львівське (говорити) 16:48, 7 March 2012 (UTC)

Here you are.

1. The book was plagiarized - there was an official court decision in this respect.
2. Penchuk was under formal accusation and officially convicted for extortion - this is just a detail; you are pushing the criminalization of Rinat Akhmetov biography without providing any solid proofs.
3. I meant the phrase "By the early 1990s, Akhmetov began acquiring property in Donetsk allegedly by means of extortion with the assistance of Vladimir Malyshev, Lieutenant-General of The Head of Ministry of Internal Affairs Department in Donetsk Oblast" that you backed up with the quote of Hans van Zon who is a Professor in the Geography Department at the University of Sunderland, UK. --Orekhova (talk) 09:23, 12 March 2012 (UTC)

1) Since you did not answer / deflected the question, I think it's safe to assume bad faith editing at this point.

2) You still have not explained how a detail about an author's personal life, unrelated to Akhmetov, belongs in the article; other than to try to paint the source in a bad light. Or why you lied about the sentence. (more bad faith)

3) Central and Eastern European Studies is not "Geography" [12][13] --Львівське (говорити) 13:02, 12 March 2012 (UTC)

It would seem that Orekhova is going through with changes while neglecting the questions posed in this talk section; in one part continuing to claim that Von Zon is a "geography professor", and in another removing dispute tags from the Penchuk disputed material without consensus.--Львівське (говорити) 17:37, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

Just want to add that she is continuing on this path, without any consensus, talk, or anything. Just plain edit warring at this point and deliberately misquoting sources for a POV diff --Львівське (говорити) 17:32, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

Taras Kuzio

Since there has been some doubt cast as to whether Kuzio is a reliable source, I figured I'd post just who he is. He's a Fellow at John Hopkins University, visiting prof @ George Washington University and the University of Birmingham, former resident Fellow at the University of Toronto, and post-doctoral fellow @ Yale. According to his site he has authored over 14 books and 60 journal articles on Ukraine/post-communist politics. I think it's plain as day that the guy is a legit figure to be making claims on this subject matter.--Львівське (говорити) 06:26, 7 March 2012 (UTC)

I have read works of Mr. Kuzio; and although I like his style (ands he has written some very interesting pieces) I can not help to think he does not bother to be neutral.... and has a strong dislike of the "Donetsk clan".... I always only use (here on Wikipedia) the facts he presents; not his conclusions (I would advice all to do the same)... — Yulia Romero • Talk to me! 18:32, 9 March 2012 (UTC)

Are there any opinions present in the article? I've mostly used him for facts AFAIK--Львівське (говорити) 20:56, 9 March 2012 (UTC)

Organized crime

This section needs to be 1) renamed as Rinat Akhmetov was never held liable and the section name seems to be POV-pushing 2) re-written as it contains serious accusations and libel elements that are either poorly supported or not supported at all. --Orekhova (talk) 13:11, 13 March 2012 (UTC)

I rather wait with working on the article till after our 3th party request for neutrality advice has bared fruit... Although renaming the section is a good idea. — Yulia Romero • Talk to me! 18:29, 13 March 2012 (UTC)

Once again, Orekhova has problem with "support" (sources) without actually pointing out what is wrong with any particular source. The ambiguity continues. As far as the title is concerned, what would be more appropriate? --Львівське (говорити) 20:26, 13 March 2012 (UTC)

Any title would be appropriate that does not violate Wiki BLP rule. I prefer Disputes or Controversies as his criminal ties is nothihng more than rumours. --Orekhova (talk) 10:08, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

We already have a subtopic on disputes, and while controversies is a correct topic...it's vague, the topic should be defined, and in this case it's specifically about the mafia connection.--Львівське (говорити) 19:00, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

New outline of the article is needed (in my opinion)

The article (in my opinion) has a complete wrong structure... It should be more structured like Yulia Tymoshenko where all the controversies are incorporated in her biography and her image in a Cultural and political image-section. Right now there are 3 (sub-)chapters in this article about disputes and/or controversies; de-linking these disputes (in this article) from his career makes not for a good read and deprives the reader of "the big pictures" and could encourages WP:SYNTH-editing/reading. Furthermore just being a member of Parliament is not a "Political Career" (if he had been a minister like Petro Poroshenko he would have a career). A stand-alone chapter Political Career should not be in this article I believe. — Yulia Romero • Talk to me! 16:38, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

PS This article is not about the book Donetsk Mafia: Anthology; way too much sentences are spend on that book now.... Just state the book is controversial and info about any co-authors of the book could be placed as a footnote. — Yulia Romero • Talk to me! 16:47, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

Where do you suggest we place all the organized crime / past stuff then, just into his early life and pre-career info? I think that would be fine. Also, I agree about the WP:UNDUE given to the Donetsk Mafia book, which itself is only mentioned in passing twice. I think the 'controversy' part of the business section could be under its own sub-topic of privatization and monopoly, which is covered in the media quite a bit (but I've yet to include it). What do you suggest we do with the political stuff? It's a career, he's the main financier of the Party of Regions and has played a role in a lot of behind-the-scenes politics.--Львівське (говорити) 17:26, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

Yes I do suggest we place all the organized crime/past stuff into his early life and pre-career info-section. I think placing the 'controversy' part of the business section in its own sub-topic of privatization and monopoly would be a good thing. I am now not sure that "being the main financier of the Party of Regions and playing a role in a lot of behind-the-scenes politics" equals "a career".... People who own most of the stocks in a company do not necessary have a career in that same company.... Besides I have the strong feeling he is only active in politics to protect his own business interests (again unlike Petro Poroshenko who did not become the Foreign Minister of Ukraine solely to protect his bushiness interests (at least I can not imagine so....)). Having a stand-alone chapter "Political Career" might give the reader the wrong impression he is pursuing a political career solely for wanting a political career (as for instance Mitt Romney does at this moment).... Must admit that might be the case but I rather stay on the safe side here and think we should not de-link his Political and Business thingies. — Yulia Romero • Talk to me! 18:48, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

I think it started off as part of his early life bio, and then after an edit war and myself adding more info on it, it was spun off into its own sub-topic ("because it's unfounded allegations, BLP libel! blah blah!"). As for politics, sure, if there is a better phrasing than "political career", but the politics is its own sub section, separate from his business career. You're absolutely right about him having interest in politics solely to protect his business. He and Yanukovych go way back, a lot of this is covered in the Wilson book.--Львівське (говорити) 18:57, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

I am wondering if his financing of Party of Regions (and possible even the link with Yanuk) should be put exclusively in a "Cultural and political image"-section rather then anywhere else... A lot of academics like Wilson have stated about his financing the party but I can not recall anybody giving a actual proof of it... like bank-statements, cheuqe with signatures etc. They seem to have there information from interviews with either analysts or people who wish to stay anonymous, we do not have somebody like Joseph Valachi or lower ranked people from Akhmetov entourage who admitted in public (and is genuine) he paid millions to the party and we don't have a Cassette Scandal 2 where it is verifiable he paid.... The fact I think he did pay is my personal opinion... but as an editor I do not want to bring Hearsay into wiki-articles.

For the record, I did attempt to move the mafia stuff beneath 'early life' so that the article would have a chronological flow, but was reverted [14] --Львівське (говорити) 23:34, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

By the way: Virtual Politics: Faking Democracy in the Post-Soviet World (Yale University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-300-09545-7) is an excellent book by Wilson on Ukrainian politics before the Orange Revolution (it coverts the "Administrative resource" in Post Soviet countries (does not make a good read if you want to read about the general history of Ukraine).... — Yulia Romero • Talk to me! 22:11, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

btw, there is a dispute open at the moment

http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Dispute_resolution_noticeboard/Archive_24#Rinat_Akhmetov--Львівське (говорити) 18:57, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, I had noticed that . — Yulia Romero • Talk to me! 22:11, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

Not sure we are all clear about my intentions here now... (I can not look any of you in the eye ). To be sure I state: The restructured version of this article I have in mind does not have any sections called "Controversy"; since a section with that name, or a similar name, seems POV-pushy in itself. — Yulia Romero • Talk to me! 00:40, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Fine by me, open to suggestions --Львівське (говорити) 00:47, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Yulia, thank you for active participation in these discussions. Do you think it is better to mention all controversies in other sections, following, like, chronological order? If yes, I'm okay with it, though feel sick of all that attacks. --Orekhova (talk) 12:00, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Yes I do you think it is better to mention all controversies in other sections, following chronological order. So we avoid cherry picking (fallacy) reading of the article and thus POV-reading. I like to avoid putting all "good" things and "bad" things separate in Wikipedia articles; I tend to believe that people do good things almost every week and bad things almost every week anyhow. I think you (Orekhova) come from a different culture then Lvivske and because of that misunderstandings have occurred (when I was in Donbass this year I noticed that I lot of times I was was puzzled why they did not act differently... I think you and Lvivske might feel the same way...). I do not think it is anything personal. — Yulia Romero • Talk to me! 18:49, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

• This article has generated a complaint to OTRS (OTRS:6419858). Please ensure that the disputes are resolved promptly as otherwise it will be necessary to sharply cut back the article and rebuild from scratch with top-quality sourcing. Stifle (talk) 22:20, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

It's hard to resolve the issues filed (everywhere, there are several cases open) when the filing party doesn't want to be specific in what the issue even is.--Львівське (говорити) 22:42, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

Orekhova took the liberty of changing the title without consensus. Do any other parties have an opinion about this? Are we going to move ahead and merge the OC stuff into his full bio?--Львівське (говорити) 16:19, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

I ask Orekhova to engage in talk page discussion prior to making sweeping changes, blanking info, or erroneously calling sources POVy or UNDUE without any actual argument other than WP:IDONTLIKEIT (as it seems to be the case). This article is going to be mired in dispute if you keep ignoring talk and pushing your unsupported changes through. Also this seems to be turning into an edit war [15] and citing the admin out of context (and saying he supported this move when he didnt) reeks of bad faith editing. --Львівське (говорити) 17:35, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

I provide my arguments every time I make edits here. Do you mean I have to ask you first before doing any edit? When citing Sleddog116 I did not mean he approved my edit - I just used the phrase construction he proposed to use; I did not "just delete" any important information - I even expanded the sentence with the names. And I did not name Hans van Zon a "Geography Professor" - I just mentioned him working at Geography Department. I'm fully open for discussion --Orekhova (talk) 18:13, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

You've yet to make any sort of coherent argument so far to explain your edits, just vague nonsense. You did delete information, included sources so far today. You "expanded" the sentence with 2 names of like 6 sources used (not to mention, the phrase was meant broadly, you dont have to name them all, they are all referenced later in the paragraph). Your assertion of Van Zon working in some geography department isn't supported (as mentioned above). The latter is another example of you ignoring the talk page this entire time; if you're open to discussion, then do it.--Львівське (говорити) 18:23, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

Well merging the OC stuff into his full bio was my plan all along. I though we had reached consensus on this to make it so. Anyhow I am not registered at OTRS so I was not sure how is the situation regarding the complaint to OTRS (OTRS #6419858) is and was more or less waiting for insight on that to appear before editing this article....... I think we should not mention the crime claims in the lead because of advice on the talkpage of another Donetsk fellow. Mentioning everybody who accused him of something seems a bit to confusing for the reader per WP:NOTEVERYTHING. — Yulia Romero • Talk to me! 18:47, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

I think the difference between Renat and Yanhilde is that the latter...it was a small conviction and not a big part of his bio. With the former, it's a huge part of his bio, and even with business, it's linked heavily. With Yanu, he's a politician...his small conviction wasn't really related (or was it? I mean this is OR on my part speaking freely, but he was a criminal and involved with the donetsk clan, and worked his way up, so its kinda related)--Львівське (говорити) 19:31, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

Not sure what the weight of that is according to Wikipedia standards if the international press never reports on this (Yanhilde's talkpage gave me the idea that that is an important factor for inserting info in the lead)... I only found a satirical reference on his criminal past (a.k.a. his OG past) in the Guardian and for instance Forbes completely ignores it... I would like to ask our buddies at the Dispute resolution noticeboard about this (also in connection with other Wikipedia articles about relative unknown Ukrainian figures). Any objections against that anyone? — Yulia Romero • Talk to me! 22:12, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

Objections to asking? By all means, the more the merrier! --Львівське (говорити) 23:25, 30 March 2012 (UTC)

No objections, but the dispute has been closed at the Dispute resolution noticeboard... Are you going to start a new one? --Orekhova (talk) 08:07, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

Yes I would start a new one... Just to know if "Ukrainian-only" sources are allowed for "serious accusations" in the lead of articles. This could also be handy to know for other wikipedia articles about other Ukrainian people (or other people where the international press is not interested in). I am now busy outside Wikipedia so I will not start this discussion (on the BLP Noticeboard) till I have time to fully participate in it.... I'll will let the world now here below then. — Yulia Romero • Talk to me! 21:24, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

There is no requirement for sources to be in English. Good quality English language sources are merely preferred. See WP:NONENG. A good quality Russian or Ukrainian language source is better than a low quality English language source.--Toddy1 (talk) 10:03, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

Chronological order now in order

I got the feeling that since now/today the article now has a logical chronological order. Now we need to work on the tone... For example I am not sure what the info about Borys Kolesnikov is doing now in the article.... — Yulia Romero • Talk to me! 16:54, 6 April 2012 (UTC)

Yes the article is much too negative about its subject.--Toddy1 (talk) 18:31, 6 April 2012 (UTC)

By the way, it would be nice to cover the URLs. Websites often restructure, messing up URLs. If the citations give the source, title, and date of the story it helps a lot.--Toddy1 (talk) 18:31, 6 April 2012 (UTC)

Renat?

Who calls him Renat? Seems very few, google search showed 11,000 results vs 125,000 for rinat. Seems kinda fringe to insert these in the lede, and the Tatar spelling without a source. --Львівське (говорити) 15:01, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

People in Donetsk do. I know this from personal experience, so I do not have a source.--Toddy1 (talk) 19:12, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

Except people in Donetsk don't speak English...right? I'm a bit confused about all of this. Are they spelling it 'Renat' in cyrillic? --Львівське (говорити) 22:18, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

People from Donetsk do business in English every day.--Toddy1 (talk) 05:59, 6 April 2012 (UTC)

This sounds a lot like WP:OR...--Львівське (говорити) 15:43, 6 April 2012 (UTC)

Well I have added some sources, so there is no problem.--Toddy1 (talk) 15:46, 6 April 2012 (UTC)

It still seems to be a fringe minority in English, so I removed the second translit since it makes the lede super long & it's not necessary because common use doesn't exist.--Львівське (говорити) 17:26, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

Fiction et al.

There were 2 major problems, among others I had to edit recently. One was that an "in fiction" section was started,] discrediting a source for no apparent reason and calling the book a "novel". I'll assume something was simply misread, but the book in question was nominated for an award in the "documentary" category, not "fiction" (this, of course, lead to orekhova inserting more unrelated info about authors in order to make them look bad, but i digress). The second was that his entire chronology was taken out, and put in a weird, non-encyclopedic order of "here is a list". Wikipedia isn't a list, and facts/history should be presented in chronology, in sections if need be, but not in a way that strangely orders a huge chunk of the article in order to 'tuck it away' apart from his bio. --Львівське (говорити) 17:29, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

When I fixed the many problems with this article in April-May 2012, the Kyiv Post URL[16] for its 21 June 2006 article Check out Ukraine’s best books, by Alexandra Matoshko, stated that Serhiy Kuzin's book Donteskaya mafia antologiya (Donetsk Mafia Anthology) had won third prize in the the fiction category of Korrespondent magazine's “Best Ukrainian Book” for books published in 2005-06.

Since then someone has got Kyiv Post to take down the old version and re-upload it in amended form in which the book now appears to have won a prize in the non-fiction category - hence the new URL.[17]

Question - do you work for Kyiv Post?--Toddy1 (talk) 17:09, 20 October 2012 (UTC)

I remember when the article came out, it was always documentary, you must be mistaken. No, I don't work for KP, I'm not even from Ukraine. But, I have been trying to get on their site recently and noticed that it's been having problems due to some sort of CMS upgrades they are doing...so that likely explains the deadlink if the /print/ directory is added to the URL (and why the mobile version works as a redirect). Google shows up another re-type of the Korrespondent original, in which it says awards were for fiction and "publicism", and the 1st place went to Oksana Zabuzhko for a non-fiction, and a history of the Orange Revolution,

Here is an cached version of the article from July 2011 link, stating "Serhiy Kuzin and Konstantyn Stogniy shared third place in the documentary nomination."

The "Lvivske works for KP conspiracy" doesn't hold much water, here's the desktop version again,2--Львівське (говорити) 17:31, 20 October 2012 (UTC)

There was a recent edit I had to revert 1, where it was textbook WP:OR. Also, it cited the company's blog as a source of fact, which I believe would not count as a reliable source.--Львівське (говорити) 14:43, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

WP:OR and unreliable sources, oh my

Recent edit that needs to be removed without starting an edit war, here. Following the figures section on wealth, Orekhova inserted:

"Actually, these figures are referred to SCM assets value; growth of the value should not be attributed to coming to power of the friendly political party (*citation from company blog*) but to a great extent to the decision of the Company's key shareholder, according to which the profit is not distributed and traditionally invested into further development of SCM (*citations from company blog*)"

This is textbook original research and synthesis. Users cannot make their own inferences, and say "actually, contrary to the above...XYZ...according to this primary source, ZXY". Can another editor chime in before without me having to be bold on this plain-sight violation? --Львівське (говорити) 17:49, 25 October 2012 (UTC)

Akhmetov is not Jewish

He is Tatar, not Jewish. Even the source that has been cited to back up the claim that he is Jewish, has removed him from the list. This is a biography of a living person, and considering the rampant anti-Semitism in Ukraine, this is potentially libelous, so I'll remove it right away. EIN (talk) 12:05, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

Have you been to busy to update Antisemitism_in_Ukraine#In_Independent_Ukraine/Racism_and_discrimination_in_Ukraine#Discrimination_against_Jews or are you being a boy who cried wolf? In 2012 the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) reported that "The number of antisemitic publications in Ukraine had dropped markedly since 2007" and that "The authorities have taken steps to promote awareness and ensure remembrance of victims of the Holocaust and to improve the teaching of Jewish history in schools". Besides the mentioning that (fellow Ukrainian oligarch) Ihor Kolomoyskyi is Jewish seems to have done him no harm... — Yulia Romero • Talk to me! 20:11, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Yes, he is an ethnic Tatar, but that does not preclude him from being Jewish. There are several reliable sources stating he is Jewish. Was it via marriage? I'm not sure. The only source I've found printed says he's "a Muslim in theory" so that's the best the alternative could come up with. My best estimation is he comes from a Tatar family, is agnostic, and married into a Jewish family and is so formally. I think this debate is getting a bit silly, go by what the sources say and quit the fighting. As it is, all sources say he's a Jewish Tatar.--Львівське (говорити) 23:12, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

I didn't see until after I reverted, but an IP user (after deleting all the jewish refs) inserted this link. The writer is reliable, but it is an OP ed piece on Forbes, just a short run down on Ukrainian billionaires. Is this a RS and what do we make of it?--Львівське (говорити) 06:37, 27 November 2013 (UTC)

It would be nice to find a good, reliable source to clear it up, but I'm not holding my breath. My hunch is it may turn out he's Jewish by heritage but practices (or converted to) Islam. However, that's mere speculation until reliable sources set it out.

Since we've got conflicting claims, I almost wonder if it's better to omit his religion from the article until we find more solid sources. —C.Fred (talk) 13:57, 27 November 2013 (UTC)

Well he is a Tatar so if anything he converted FROM Islam rather than to it, but I'm not sure how to handle this, your call. We have one good source saying he's practicing, and several other Jewish sources listing him among Jewish businessmen. Weird. Considering how private the guy is, it may be tough to get a definite answer.--Львівське (говорити) 15:43, 27 November 2013 (UTC)

This bullshit that says that Akhmetov is Jew began to appear in article with the publication in Forbes.Israel of its reachest jews list that was totally wrong. Then Akhmetovs public assistants wrote to these 'established' magazine stating that Akhmetov is not Jew at all, that he is tatar. Here is links about these(in russian and ukrainan) http://lenta.ru/articles/2013/05/12/forbes/ http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2013/04/19/6988496/ (you can understand them using google translate)(and all corrections in history that Akhmetov is not Jew mentioned it, but you reverted). Forbles.Israel included not only Akhmetov but also Poroshenko(ukrainan) who rebuffed these publication too, Usmanov(who is uzbek) and Prokhorov(who is russian). You know that it would be very offensive if you say to some uzbek or tatar that he is Jew. All 'sources' reference this Forbes publication or are some hand-made 'Jewish library about Jews for Jews', they have a lot of nonsence info like 'Usmanov is jew' and so on, so they can put there something like 'Obama is jew. He went to local village sinagogue in Kenya' - you gonna reference this like reliable? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lola Rennt (talk • contribs) 18:50, 17 December 2013 (UTC)

well you just said "its bullshit, it was retracted" without providing a source, so that doesnt mean much esp. since we can't google it because it wasn't in english. That said, Usmanov married Jewish and Prokhorov is absolutely Jewish (by descent) so these arently exactly 'offensive' labels, as you put it..--Львівське (говорити) 19:00, 17 December 2013 (UTC)

it could be offensive to average tatar and uzbeks nowadays in Russia, because they practise Islam. Usmanov is in elite and he lived in secular USSR. Additionally i think Akhmetov is not muslim at all. Ukranian working class tatar couldn't practise islam in Donetsk. Crimean tatars in Ukraine are religious nowadays, but they came from Uzbekistan. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lola Rennt (talk • contribs) 19:18, 17 December 2013 (UTC)

all the more reason to have both removed from the article unless it's confirmed by akhmetov himself. --Львівське (говорити) 19:36, 17 December 2013 (UTC)

here is plus one israeli source that says Akhmeto is tatar not Jew http://izrus.co.il/oligarhi/article/2013-04-18/20980.html

you can be both a tatar and a jew, just saying. Anyway, I reviewed the sources you've provided and it seems pretty straightforward that he's not Jewish at all. Thanks for the help.--Львівське (говорити) 19:06, 17 December 2013 (UTC)

Tatar??

is he Crimean Tatar???. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.164.118.2 (talk) 10:16, 30 March 2014 (UTC)

Please don't use present tense

example "The protests against Akhmetov are ongoing and planned to increase."

 Ongoing when? 2014? 2021? 

Nearly every article about this very fast-moving Ukraine crisis is full of such present tense statements, obviously quoting directly from the linked reference. Some of the claimed current situations are reversed in a week, but not updated (perhaps the reversal gets a separate section). Please whoever is in charge of this category, keep an eye on this. KoolerStill (talk) 19:08, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

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Sports and patronage

I ask to discuss 1-3 paragraphs of the section "Sports and patronage" (discussed version). According the Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use require, I disclose my employer: Rinat Akhmetov's press service. --Kirotsi (talk) 20:53, 30 November 2021 (UTC)

¶ 1

In the second half of the paragraph, starting with the words "and began investing heavily in both players and their training facilities" I propose such text:

paragraph # 1

Rinat Akhmetov envisioned Shakhtar as a winner of European cups, so he began restructuring the club to achieve this goal. He changed the approach to the club management and transferred the operational management to the professionals. Under his leadership, FC Shakhtar became the country's champion thirteen times, won the Ukrainian Cup thirteen times, took the Ukrainian Super Cup nine times, and won the UEFA Europa League Cup for the first time in the history of Ukraine.

¶ 2

I propose a minor correction of the first two sentences, and the last sentence ("Rinat Akhmetov had dreamt about such a stadium long before Ukraine had acquired the right to host EURO 2012") I propose completely to replace with the totals for EURO 2012.

paragraph # 2

In 2009, Donbas Arena stadium was built in Donetsk at Rinat Akhmetov's initiative. It’s the first stadium in Eastern Europe that was designed and built to the elite UEFA standards; its capacity is over 50,000 people. Donbas Arena was named the best stadium of Euro 2012. It ranks among 25 best stadiums in the history of the Champions League.

¶ 3

In the third paragraph, I propose updating information after 2014.

paragraph # 3

FC Shakhtar had to leave its home city of Donetsk due to the War in Donbas in Ukraine. Since the spring of 2014, its training base has been located in Kyiv. The team changed multiple home stadiums, moving to Lviv (Arena Lviv, 2014-2017), Kharkiv (Metalist, 2017-2020), and finally Kyiv (NSC Olimpiyskiy, since 2020). Meanwhile, from August 2014 and until losing control of the stadium in 2017 the club's home stadium Donbas Arena served as a centre of humanitarian aid in Donetsk. Volunteers were unloading the food products, forming the individual sets and passing them to people in need there. During the fighting the Donbas Arena was seriously damaged as a result of shelling several times, the humanitarian aid distribution was continued.

References for Sports and patronage

--Kirotsi (talk) 20:53, 30 November 2021 (UTC)

Philanthropy

I ask to discuss the section "Philanthropy" (discussed version). According the Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use require, I disclose my employer: Rinat Akhmetov' press service. --Kirotsi (talk) 14:36, 29 December 2021 (UTC)

¶ 1

In the new first paragraph, I propose to mention the general assessments of Rinat Akhmetov as a philanthropist. This will partially replace the first four sentences of the second current paragraph.

paragraph # 1

Researcher Natalya Kolosova believes that Rinat Akhmetov is one of the first modern Ukrainian philanthropists who switched from spontaneous aid to a systematic approach. Since 2006, Akhmetov has been among the leading philanthropists of Ukraine. According to various sources, he is among the first in terms of the amount of funds allocated to charity.

¶ 2

Here I propose to write about the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. This will update the 2th and 3th sentences information of the current first paragraph.

paragraph # 2

In 2005, on the initiative of Rinat Akhmetov, the SCM corporate charitable foundation "Development of Ukraine" was created (since 2018 — Rinat Akhmetov Foundation). Main areas its activity: national health, family, targeted assistance, dynamic culture, modern education. Since March 2008, the fund has been separated from the company and operates as a personal charitable foundation of Rinat Akhmetov, it maintains a partnership with SCM. This Foundation is one of the most famous charitable organizations in Ukraine.

¶ 3

Here I propose to update the information about the Foundation for Effective Governance (instead of 4th and 5th sentences of the current first paragraph).

paragraph # 3

During 2007—2013, the Foundation for Effective Governance worked, founded by Rinat Akhmetov. The organization was supporting the authorities and civil society institutions of Ukraine in the development of programs for the long-term economic development of the state. During its work, the Foundation was preparing The Ukraine Competitiveness Report for the World Economic Forum and created two clusters in Lviv (IT and woodworking).

¶ 4

I propose to remove the "Notable donations" subsection, but keep the updated information about help in Donbas (see: "since September 2014...").

paragraph # 4

In August 2014, on the basis of the Foundation for Development of Ukraine, Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Center Pomozhem was created, which provides humanitarian assistance in the form of food packages, medicines, and psychological assistance to citizens. More than 800 thousand people received 12-kilogram packages every month. For three years, the Humanitarian Center saved more than 1,139,000 people from death, hunger and disease in eastern Ukraine and became the largest humanitarian mission in the country. More than 39 thousand people were evacuated from the combat zone by the resources of this organization. Since February 2017, the Humanitarian Center has been working only on the territory controlled by Ukraine. In the Donetsk region, the Humanitarian Center is one of the most famous charitable organizations (2018).

¶ 5

These are the current 2th and 3th paragraphs. 2 paragraph, starting with the words: "Starting from the year 2000 ...". I also suggest updating the link in the third current paragraph.

paragraph # 5

Starting from the year 2000, Rinat Akhmetov and his friend Igor Krutoy have been involved in a charity campaign on Saint Nicholas' Day in Donetsk and Donetsk Oblast, visiting children deprived of parental care, orphans and children in hospitals. In 2012, he donated $19 million to build an oncology research center.

Akhmetov' salary for being a member of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada (parliament) was traditionally deferred to charity.

¶ 6

I suggest adding new information on help during a global pandemic.

paragraph # 6

In March 2020, Rinat Akhmetov began to financially help in the fight against COVID-19. After meeting with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, he began to oversee a number of regions (Donetsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Luhansk and Lviv Oblast) and individual cities (Kryvyi Rih).

References: Philanthropy

SCM Group

I ask to discuss the subsection "SCM Group" (discussed version). According the Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use require, I disclose my employer: Rinat Akhmetov' press service. --Kirotsi (talk) 06:51, 13 February 2022 (UTC)

¶ 1

In the first paragraph, I propose to write the general characteristic of SCM Holdings.

paragraph # 1

Akhmetov founded System Capital Management Group (JSC "SCM") in 2000. SCM is the largest diversified financial and industrial group in Ukraine (for example, in 2013, the share of SCM in Ukraine's GDP was 3.9%), which is also represented in 7 countries in Europe and North America. The structure of SCM Group includes more than 500 companies employing about 200 thousand people. SCM's main areas of interest and activities are focused on such: in-dustries as metallurgy and coal mining, power generation, banking and insurance, telecommunications and others. In various periods, Akhmetov controlled from 90% to 100% of the shares of SCM. He has been its sole proprietor since 2009.

¶ 2

Here I propose to list the main assets of the corporation. And at the end of the list, to give an example of the consolidated influence of the holding's enterprises.

paragraph # 2

The main assets of Rinat Akhmetov, according to information for 2022, include the following companies:

• SCM Holdings
• Metinvest (mining and metallurgical business)
• DTEK (energy industry)
• First Ukrainian International Bank (finance)
• Ukrtelecom (telecommunication business)
• Media Group Ukraine (media business)
• ESTA Holding (real estate)
• Corum Group (mechanical engineering; formerly Ukrvuglemash and Mining Machines)
• UMG Investments (investments; formerly United Mineral Group)
• Portinvest, Lemtrans, Transinvest holding (transport business)
• HarvEast Holding (agriculture)
• FC Shakhtar Donetsk (sport)

According to Serhiy Holovnev and Yuriy Vinnichuk, in 2018 SCM enterprises paid UAH 90.2 billion, or 22.6% of all tax revenues to the government budget of Ukraine.

¶ 3

Here I propose to mention the assessments of the corporation's activities.

paragraph # 3

Critics point out that at different times SCM used the political conjuncture for its development. For example, in 2004 Akhmetov and Pinchuk privatized Kryvorizhstal for $0.8 billion. But in 2005, re-privatization was carried out: the plant was bought by Mittal Steel Company for $4.8 billion. In January 2014 SCM businesses won 31% of all state tenders. At the same time, researchers note that SCM Group has been trying to be a transparent corporation since its inception. SCM was one of the first in Ukraine to begin publishing social reports (2007). It was several times the leader in the rankings of Ukraine's "Socially Responsible Companies", and in 2011, together with its subsidiaries Metinvest and DTEK, it entered the top five of the Index of Transparency and Accountability of Companies in Ukraine.

References: SCM Group

In the new version, I propose not to add information that, in its details, is beyond the scope of this topic article, but logically fits other related articles (in particular, these may be: SCM Holdings, Kryvorizhstal, Metinvest, Ukrtelecom). --Kirotsi (talk) 06:51, 13 February 2022 (UTC)

Objectivity/impartiality concerns

The whole article reads almost as if written by the subject's own PR team, with detailed emphasis on philantropy and overly dismissive descriptions of accusations as "false" and "baseless", even those that have not been defeated in court or otherwise retracted.

One of the richest oligarchs of Ukraine can afford to employ tens of "voluntary" Wikipedians to polish his image, and we must not be so naïve that we overlook the possible influence of state actors, especially during such dramatic times as these. Even veteran Wikipedians can be corrupt.

I urge you to take the role of Wikipedia as a major information war battleground seriously, and to strongly regulate and constrain editing of this and all other pages that can affect public perceptions of the belligerents and their possible agents, allies and partners. If this is not feasible, you should at least liberally mark all such pages with a notice that they may be affected by information war efforts. Elias (talk) 10:25, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Rinat Akhmetov and UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin 12.2021.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 21:37, 4 January 2023 (UTC)

"Anti-Maidan" funding

Rinat has financed organizations close to the Anti-Maidan movement. 2A02:3030:805:7E52:1:0:3D29:CA9F (talk) 21:27, 17 July 2023 (UTC)