Billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, after treading cautiously between Kremlin-backed separatists and the government in Kyiv that came to power when the EuroMaidan Revolution overthrew his ally ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, came out on May 19 more forcefully against the breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic.

Akhmetov called for workers at all businesses in the Donbas region, where he owns coal mines, steel mills and other businesses, to stage a peace rally at noon on May 20. He called on all people in Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk, where a separatist republic has also been formed, to join the action.