The largest investment group System Capital Management (SCM), owned by the richest Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, is forced out of the media business and transfers assets, in particular the TV channels Ukraine and Ukraine 24, to the state. This was reported in a statement by System Capital Management.
The SCM explained that this was a forced decision, dictated by the entry into force of the law on deoligarchization 
“About the threat of threats to national security, caused by the overworld influx of osib, as it may be significant economically and politically in a supple life (oligarchs)” . At the same time, Rinat Akhmetov notes in his statement that he does not consider himself an oligarch.
As the largest private investor in the Ukrainian economy, I have repeatedly said that I was not, am not and will not be an oligarch. The short six-month legal deadline for the sale of media assets and the Russian military aggression against Ukraine prevent SCM from selling its media business on market terms.
“This week, Media Group Ukraine will waive in favor of the state all broadcast and satellite television licenses of our channels and licenses of our print media in Ukraine. We will also stop the activities of MSU online media”
from the official statement of System Capital Management Rinat Akhmetov
Media holding “Media Group Ukraine” unites more than 10 TV channels and online publications: TV channels “Ukraine”, “Ukraine 24”, NLO TV, Indigo TV, “Football 1/2/3”, Ukraine 1/Ukraine 2 and NLO TV 1/ NLO TV 2, Donbass, Channel 34, Sigma, full cycle media agency Media Partnership Baing, satellite broadcaster Xtra TV, OTT platform OLL.TV, production companies Tele Pro and Dopomozhimo TV ”, “New Group Ukraine”, multimedia platform SIOGODNІ — TV news “Sogodni”, website segodnya.ua; cross-platform project Vogue.UA.
According to Akhmetov, the total investment in the media holding over more than 20 years of development is more than $1.5 billion. In total, the media holding employs 4,000 people.
What will happen next with the television and online projects of Media Group Ukraine has not yet been specified.
The law on oligarchs came into force on November 7, 2021 and will be in effect for at least 10 years from May 7, 2022. To be an oligarch, a person must meet three of the four criteria What are these criteria: 1) participates in political life; 2) has a significant influence on the media; 3) is the ultimate beneficiary of an enterprise that has a natural monopoly or occupies a monopoly position in the national commodity market; 4) has assets worth a million living wages (now it is 2 billion 270 million hryvnia, or a little more than 83 million dollars) . It provides for restrictions on oligarchs What is this restriction: among other things, a ban on making contributions in support of political parties; buy large objects and finance any political campaign, rallies or demonstrations with political demands and slogans. . The decision on inclusion in the register of oligarchs and exclusion from the register is made by the National Security and Defense Council.
