Filip K:
Vice President Joe Biden‘s son and a close friend of Secretary of State John Kerry’s stepson have joined the board of a Ukrainian gas producer controlled by a former top security and energy official for deposed President Viktor Yanukovych.
The move has attracted attention given Messrs. Biden’s and Kerry’s public roles in diplomacy toward Ukraine, where the U.S. expressed support for pro-Western demonstrators who toppled Mr. Yanukovych’s Kremlin-backed government in February. The uprising provoked a pro-Russia backlash that has plunged the post-Soviet republic into conflict and brought it to the brink of civil war.
Hunter Biden, a lawyer by training and the younger of the vice president’s two sons, joined the board of directors of Ukrainian gas firm Burisma Holdings Ltd. this month and took on responsibility for the company’s legal unit, according to a statement issued by the closely held gas producer.
His appointment came a few weeks after Devon Archer —college roommate of the secretary of state’s stepson, H.J. Heinz Co. ketchup heir Christopher Heinz—joined the board to help the gas firm attract U.S. investors, improve its corporate governance and expand its operations. A State Department spokesman declined to comment.
“The fact that I joined the board of directors is largely based on the company’s will to grow,” Mr. Archer said in an interview with Ukrainian media published on Burisma’s website. “Last year alone witnessed a lot of transformations.” He vowed to make the company more transparent.
Mr. Biden, 44 years old, and Mr. Archer, 39, work for Rosemont Seneca Partners, a U.S. investment company. It is affiliated with Rosemont Capital, a private-equity firm Mr. Archer co-founded with Mr. Heinz.
Two people familiar with Mr. Heinz’s involvement in the firms said he isn’t involved with the day-to-day operation of Rosemont Seneca, which is 50%-owned by Rosemont Capital. The people also said there was no financial investment by the firms in Burisma, just board memberships for Messrs. Biden and Archer.
Messages were left for Hunter Biden at his offices in Washington and New York and at offices of a law firm where he is of counsel. A person answering the phone at his office in Washington said Messrs. Biden and Archer were unavailable and promised to pass along a message.
The White House press secretary and the vice president’s office described Hunter Biden’s activities as those of a private citizen, bearing no endorsement of the U.S. government.
Oil is a weapon of this war, but the REASON for the taking of people from Ukraine to Russia is demographics.
Both Ukraine and Russia (as well as Moldova and Georgia) are in demographic death spirals.
Russia’s Putin is trying to stave off the end of a Russian-speaking country called Russia by stealing Russian-speaking people from nearby countries.
This is doomed to fail as most of these people are too old to build up the next generation of Russian-speaking population.
The 538 blog has an excellent statistical article about this.
Note the chart of ”The Fastest Projected Decliners” on earth as it includes all the players: Russia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
Bidens’ son and Kerry’s friend are both part of the staff on the Titanic; re-arranging the deck chairs as the ship sinks.