Owner of Smart-holding denies involvement in conflict over Illich Steel Mill

The president and key beneficiary of Smart-holding, Vadim Novinksy, has denied rumors in the media that he is involved in the conflict over OJSC Mariupol Illich Steel Mill.

"If people worked in my company and were sacked several years ago, would everything they do be linked to me?" he told Interfax-Ukraine in Kyiv on Thursday.

"The situation at the mill is very complicated. I think that Volodymyr Semenovych [Boiko, the board chairman and director of the mill], whom I respect, simply got himself in the soup," he said.