KIEV, September 2 (RIA Novosti) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko said Friday that Nikopol, a mill in eastern Ukraine that produces steel alloys, would be renationalized by the court.
"Despite the wining and moaning from Kuchma's [the former Ukrainian president] son-in-law, Pinchuk, the plant will be renationalized," Timoshenko told the Novosti-Ukraina news agency.
Timoshenko said she was grateful to Viktor Pinchuk for broadcasting the protests that took place on the plant's premises on the TV channels he owns.
"Pinchuk is the new field commander who organized the protests to defend his billion," she said.
She added that the protests and the broadcasting would have been impossible if Pinchuk had not enjoyed the support among the authorities.
"The era of the oligarchs' reign is over in Ukraine," the prime minister said.
Timoshenko said that the sale of the steel plant could bring in revenues of a billion dollars to the budget.
"If the plant is renationalized and sold in a transparent way, the federal budget will receive five billion hryvnias," she said.
