Oligarch Kolomoisky denies meeting with Zelensky, despite being at same hotel
Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky has denied claims that he had a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, despite staying at the same hotel at the Bukovel ski resort in western Ukraine, Ukrainian journalist and Censor.net Editor-in-Chief Yuri Butusov has written in a post on Facebook.
Kolomoisky is widely suspected of having been one of the chief backers of Zelensky's presidential campaign, and a Kolomoisky-owned TV channel was one of the Ukrainian president’s primary business partners during his previous career as a comedian.
Rumors of secret contacts between the two have fueled speculation that the oligarch wields influence on the president, while a number of high-profile Zelensky administration staff have been linked to the oligarch.
Ukrayinska Pravda, an online Ukrainian newspaper, first reported that Zelensky had gone on holiday to Bukovel in Ukraine’s Carpathian Mountains on Jan. 4, where he stayed in the same hotel as Kolomoisky.
The oligarch, however, has denied meeting with the president during this trip.
“I have just left the hotel – I checked into the Radisson on Dec. 30,” Kolomoisky said, according to Butusov.
“As far as I know, President Zelensky was staying in a different part of the hotel with a separate entrance and lift. We did not meet or talk.
“Yesterday, I was having dinner at the hotel and I had no idea the president had arrived. I found out about it from (Ukrainian journalist Mykhailo) Tkach today at 1513. Let me repeat once again, Zelensky and I do not keep in touch, it’s just a coincidence,” the oligarch insisted.
However, sources who spoke to Ukrayinska Pravda allege that both Zelensky and Kolomoisky stayed on the fifth floor of the five-star Radisson Blu Resort in Bukovel.
Zelensky later said that he had gone on a short winter holiday.
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