Washington, DC – Much of the attention revolving around Ukraine has been around President Donald Trump and former Vice-President Joe Biden. The story revolves around Trump’s request for an investigation into potential corruption on behalf of Joe Biden, but there’s a part of the story missing. One that involves a connection between dark money, corruption, and a possible hush-money.
Back in 1990, the International Renaissance Foundation (IRF) opening in Ukraine. George Soros founded the organization as part of the Open Society Foundations international network. The organization operated in Ukraine not long after the country came out from under Russian rule. The said goal was to create an open society based on Democratic policy. But the program accomplished so much more.
In the early 2000s, Viktor Yanukovych was appointed the Prime Minister of Ukraine. He ran for President of the country, but lost in a runoff election. The election was marred with protests referred to as the Orange Revolution. He ran for reelection in 2010 and won the election. That’s when the trouble began.
Western governments backed Yanukovych’s opponent, Yulia Tymoshenko. Yanukovych seemed to be pro-Russia and caused many of the governments across Europe and America’s concern. As Yanukovych set up his government, an elaborate system began to take shape to cause issues.
The IRF began funding news media stations, in an attempt to help shape the uprising against Yanukovych. A journalist, Roman Skrypin, was a name that came to prominence. He helped start Channel 5 news in Ukraine with former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. After a few years at the organization, he left. Soon after, he joined TVi, another news outlet in Ukraine. At one point, the Kyiv Post called the two TV organizations the only two news sources that could be trusted in Ukraine.
The plan began to go into motion in 2013. Skrypin and 31 other journalists resigned from TVi, and Skrypin set out to start his own internet news station. The name of the company was Hromadske.TV and it was funded in part by IRF, or the Open Society Foundations. The organization was announced in June 2013.
In July 2013, Geoffrey Pyatt became the ambassador to Ukraine. Almost immediately after he arrived, he gave a grant to Hromadske.TV. Additional funding was promised after the first grant, but the US Embassy is listed in the documents of supporters of the news organization. The IRF continued to support Hromadske.TV for sometime after the initial funding.
In November, then-President Yanukovych pulls back from negotiating the European Ukraine Association Agreement. A short time later, Hromadske.TV went live with the story and was streaming events to watchers around the country. The protests continued for months until February of 2014.
In February, the Ukrainian government cracked down on the protestors, which resulted in approximately 70 deaths and the eventual fleeing of Yanukovych to Russia. Shortly after, we all remember the story of how Russia invaded Crimea, and we remember all the details of that.
President Barack Obama placed economic sanctions on Russia, but refused to get involved at the calls of many leaders in Congress. Obama made statements at the time that Ukraine was of interest to Russia, but not the United States. He also said that Ukraine would be at risk of Russian rule even if the US intervened.
Shortly after the Russian invasion and fall of the Ukrainian government, Hunter Biden joined Burisma. It happened in April 2014, where Biden became a legal advisor to the group. The founder of the Burisma organization was an operative under previous Ukrainian administrations and had been accused of corruption and investigated in the past.
In May, Petro Poroshenko won the Ukrainian election to be President. If you recall from earlier, Poroshenko was the owner of TV 5 news and ran on a platform of pro-West policy. He took office in June and started naming positions in his administration. One such member was Vitaly Yarema, who was promoted to prosecutor general.
In August 2014, the famed investigation into Burisma was initiated by Yarema. In October, former Vice President Joe Biden led a group that partnered with leaders of the revolution and Ukrainian parliament to establish the National Anti-Corruption Bureau. The NABU should have included the prosecutor general, but instead was established as a way to circumvent the prosecutor general’s office.
Throughout the establishment of the NABU, Joe Biden made statements that it was to fight corruption in Ukraine. On the surface, it looked as though Biden was encouraging the investigation of even Burisma. Behind the scenes, it was an elaborate plan to oust a prosecutor general and clear his son’s company.
Viktor Shokin took the office of the prosecutor-general in February 2015. Joe Biden pressured the office to investigate corruption. Some of the investigation would have involved Burisma. By September, Ambassador Pyatt and others were calling for his ouster. They called for his removal due to the failure to investigate corruption.
Shokin was preparing to interview Hunter Biden regarding $3 million in fees he and his partner had received. The former Vice President began calling for his removal, including the potential of holding up $1 billion in aid to Ukraine if they did not fire the prosecutor. Poroshenko, the President, installed by Soros and his friends, quickly agreed to obtain the funds. Shokin was forced out in March 2016, and replaced by Yuriy Lutsenko. Soon after Lutsenko took office, the Burisma investigation disappeared and was closed.
During this time, we know that Hunter Biden used his name and position to secure meetings with key US stakeholders. He used his name and position to obtain critical advice to help Burisma navigate through the issue. Shokin has testified that Poroshenko had asked him multiple times to close the investigation into Burisma.
Pyatt’s job in Ukraine was finished. In just four years, he had accomplished a complete overthrow of the Ukrainian government. He allowed the Biden family to enter into a grand money scheme in the Ukrainian playground that Soros had created. So while many have talked about Yovanovitch’s part in the Ukraine situation, it appears the real person to speak with maybe Ambassador Pyatt.
Pyatt has had many other questionable situations since his time in Ukraine. After leaving Ukraine, Pyatt went to Greece as the new ambassador. Soon after he arrived, a remodeling plan was set into motion. The remodel would cost nearly $350 million.
A US contractor was to oversee the project, utilizing local contractors to complete the work. The main contractor used in the project was Redex, a Copelouzos Group company. The Copelouzos Group is known for its partnerships in Greece.
One specific partnership is that of Prometheus Gas, a collaboration between Copelouzos and Russia. Russia exercised control over the national gas market in their country after President Putin came into power. This means that Russia had direct oversight into the construction of the US Embassy.
Copelouzos also has relationships with companies from China. In joint partnership documents filed, the organization has partnered with China Energy for renewable energy projects across Greece. Again, giving potential access to the US Embassy to a foreign government.
It’s fascinating Pyatt would award the contracts locally to a company with direct ties to both China and Russia. Especially given the actions he had in Ukraine. Could it be that Pyatt is attempting to keep them quiet about his activities in Ukraine?
As Congress continues to look at the issues in Ukraine, maybe it’s time to take a closer look at Ambassador Pyatt. So far, he seems to have escaped scrutiny aside from being part of a few of the leaked phone calls. He may know some essential information.
Maria Polizoidou from The Flag Report contributed to this article. You can contact JD through The Liberty Loft’s website or by Twitter. Be sure to subscribe to The Liberty Loft’s daily newsletter. If you enjoy our content, please consider donating to support The Liberty Loft so we can continue to deliver great content.