Vice President’s Son Joins Board of Directors of Ukrainian Gas Company

The son of a vice president
joined the board of directors of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma
Holdings… not the son of Ukraine’s or Russia’s vice president, but
our very own.
From Burisma Holdings’ statement:

R. Hunter Biden will be in charge of the Holdings’
legal unit and will provide support for the Company among
international organizations. On his new appointment, he commented:
“Burisma’s track record of innovations and industry leadership in
the field of natural gas means that it can be a strong driver of a
strong economy in Ukraine. As a new member of the Board, I believe
that my assistance in consulting the Company on matters of
transparency, corporate governance and responsibility,
international expansion and other priorities will contribute to the
economy and benefit the people of Ukraine.”

Burisma provides four paragraphs of bio for Biden, including the
tidbit that he’s a “well-known public figure” but doesn’t include
that he’s the son of the U.S. vice president. I guess they wouldn’t
want to make it appear like nepotism played a role, right? Burisma
describes itself as “one of Ukraine’s largest
independent gas producers.” BusinessWeek reports it is
based in Cyprus. Burisma Holdings says it has fields in all
three of Ukraine’s gas and oil regions, the Carpathian, Crimean,
and Dnieper-Donets basins, the latter two located in eastern
Ukraine, currently experiencing bouts of pro-Russian insurgency and
even the annexation of Crimea by Russia.

Ukraine, and most of Europe, relies heavily on gas piped in from
Russia for its energy needs.
According to Bloomberg 30 percent of Europe’s gas
comes from Russia, and half of that crosses Ukraine. The Russian
government’s gas company, Gazprom, hiked the price of gas for
Ukraine by 81 percent in April, bringing it to $485 per 1,000 cubic
meters, the highest price in Europe. Ukraine owes $3.5 billion for
Russian fuel delivered last year and in the first four months of
2014. The Ukrainian government has been trying to renegotiate a
deal struck with Russia in 2009 that the government it replaced
also tried to renegotiate. The Russians say they’re not open to
negotiation until Ukraine pays its bill. The country received its
first $3.2 billion of a $27 billion international aid package meant
to pay down its gas debt last week, but Russia’s deputy energy
minister says Ukraine hasn’t used any of it for that purpose
yet.