An influential Ukrainian oligarch whose private army had seized control of state-run oil firms has resigned after a tense standoff with security forces in Kiev. Igor Kolomoisky, the former governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, submitted his resignation after meeting with President Petro Poroshenko on Tuesday, according to media reports.
Kolomoisky, once a key ally of Poroshenko’s government, clashed with Kiev over the control of two state-owned energy companies, UkrNafta and its subsidiary UkrTransNafta, after parliament moved to retake control of the companies from him.
In response, men suspected to be from Kolomoisky’s Dnipro-1 battalion stormed the offices of UkrTransNafta, after which Kolomoisky emerged from the building and said his men had stopped an attack by “Russian saboteurs.” The government reportedly refuted his claims of attempted sabotage.