Akhmetov's lawyers demand that Ukrainian and foreign media outlets remove critical articles about oligarch

American legal firms that represent the interests of the Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov demand from some Ukrainian and foreign media outlets to remove articles that criticize the oligarch. The Internet provider of the Espresso.TV channel received a letter from Akhmetov's legal firm AKIN GUMP STRAUSS HAUER&FELD LLP with a demand to take down the article "Why Akhmetov does not stop Donetsk separatism". It was a repost of a Facebook status of a well-known journalist Seriy Vysotsky, who believes that Akhmetov's position in regard of the situation in Ukraine is nothing short of a treason as the businessman failed to conduct any stabilization policy in Donetsk region to put a stop to separatism as he might use these conflicts as a leverage in negotiations with Kyiv. The firm's claim was that this article widely quoted by several influential foreign media outlets insinuated Akhmetov's connections with organized criminal groups, what damages his reputation. The American lawyers demanded that the article were taken down and that measures were taken to prevent such articles from being published in the future. The journalists are disturbed that Akhmetov's lawyers addressed the provider with the demand, not the media outlet itself. The article was quoted by many leading Ukrainian and world media outlets, including Kyiv Post, Daily Mail, Le Figaro, Neue Züricher Zeitung, MSN Canada and Newsweek Polska. Akhmetov's lawyers claim that these publications have been taken down on their demand.