Timeline of Biden’s intervention in 2014 Russia-Ukraine gas deal alongside Burisma lobbying efforts
A timeline of events surrounding the gas deal shows that Hunter Biden and Burisma Holdings worked to secure U.S. government support for the company and fret over a potential spike in gas prices if a Russia-Ukraine deal fell through.
While Joe Biden publicly led the charge to punish Russia for its first invasion of Ukraine, he used his role as vice president to quietly open a backdoor for Moscow's gas to flow to its neighbor in the fall of 2014 at a time when his son Hunter's Ukrainian energy company sought such help, according to government messages in a private email account from more than a decade ago.
The emails, sent to Joe Biden's private account under the fake name RobinWare456@gmail.com, were recently turned over by the National Archives, mostly redacted, to Just the News under an open records lawsuit.
You can read the main story, here.
04/13/2014: Hunter Biden writes to business partner Devon Archer warning that if Ukraine fell short in energy production without Russian gas, price increases would hurt Burisma and its founder, Mykola Zlochevsky.
04/22/2014: Vice President Biden travels to Kyiv and touts U.S. assistance to help Ukraine attain energy independence, especially from Russia.
05/05/2014: Devon Archer sends an article to Hunter Biden about pressure from Russia’s state-owned gas giant, Gazprom, and its pressure against Slovakia for a plan to send gas supply to Ukraine.
06/16/2014: Russia cuts off all gas supplies to Ukraine after the two countries failed to come to an agreement on gas prices.
06/23/2014: The law firm that employed Hunter Biden, Boies Schiller & Flexner, drafted a legal defense plan for Burisma to extricate the company from burdensome investigations by Ukrainian authorities that involved plans to meet with U.S. officials in Washington, D.C. to “seek their advice and assistance,” Just the News previously reported.
09/12/2014: The Obama Treasury Department imposes new sanctions on Russian energy and defense firms after confirmation that Russian forces fought alongside Ukrainian separatists in the Donbas region of Ukraine.
09/24/2014: Burisma lobbyist David Leiter tells company executive Vadim Pozharskyi that “We will do our best to alert U.S. officials who might be able to influence Ukraine” not to adopt new legislative initiatives on the gas industry in Ukraine, according to an email shared with Congress by the IRS whistleblowers.
09/29/2014: Hunter Biden’s calendar shows a scheduled meeting at his Rosemont Seneca Partners office with Frank Mermoud, the former Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
10/03/2014: Frank Mermoud emails Hunter Biden with information about the status of parliamentary elections in Ukraine, per an email found on Biden’s laptop.
10/24/2014: German Chancellor Angela Merkel calls Russian President Vladimir Putin, urging the leader to come to an agreement with Ukraine over gas supplies during the winter.
10/27/2014: Hunter Biden’s assistant Katie Dodge says in an email, "Secretary of State may be calling you soon,” per an email shared with Congress by the IRS whistleblowers.
10/30/2014: Russia and Ukraine sign the first gas supply agreement after the seizure of Crimea earlier that year. Public reports say that the deal was mediated by the European Union, particularly with pressure from Germany.
10/30/2014: Biden’s Deputy National Security Advisor, Jeffrey Prescott emails the vice president’s pseudonymous account, saying, “Ukraine gas deal was just signed. The Germans earlier indicated to Tony that your call had come at a critical moment.”
justthenews.com
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