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Mike Pompeo, former U.S. Secretary of State (2017 induction)
Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais / picture alliance / AP Photo
Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been given a post on the board of Ukraine's largest mobile phone company, Kyivstar. He is to act as an "independent, non-executive" member of the board, the Dutch parent company Veon announced. Pompeo has been added to the company's management as a partner of the U.S. company Impact Investments.
Pompeo served as Secretary of State under US President Donald Trump between 2018 and 2021 and has also visited Ukraine in this capacity. Prior to that, the graduate of the U.S. Military Academy West Point headed the U.S. secret service CIA for just over a year. Most recently, Pompeo was in Kyiv in April this year as head of a US business delegation and was received by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine has been fending off a Russian invasion for almost 21 months with Western support. Kyivstar says it still has more than 24 million subscribers despite the war and is considered the market leader among mobile operators in the Eastern European country.
Through the investment company LetterOne (Luxembourg), the Ukrainian-born Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman holds shares in Veon and thus Kyivstar. In Ukraine, Fridman, as well as his business partners German Khan and Alexei Kuzmitshev, were subject to sanctions. That is why parts of Kyivstar's shares were recently seized by a court.
KTZ/dpa