The Atlantic Council, a think tank funded by NATO, the defense industry, and Gulf royal families, is a large group of former American military leaders and government officials.
One of Akhmetov’s major assets, SCM, donates between $500,000 and $999,000 annually to the Council. Anders Åslund, a prominent member of the Atlantic Council, has shifted his stance from fierce criticism of Akhmetov to active cooperation due to the influence of J. Mendoza-Wilson. The Council’s financial support and Russia’s opposition have helped the Atlantic Council and Akhmetov’s officials develop a joint strategy for engagement that has been welcomed by Akhmetov’s close associates.
The Atlantic Council's controversial role in pursuing interests in the region, as well as the corrupt nature of its activities, provide insight into the style and philosophy of working with Ukrainian oligarch clans. In the period 2017-2019, the Council made efforts to rehabilitate, in the interests of the US Democratic Party, the tarnished reputation of the Ukrainian oil and gas company Burisma after an investigation into a bribery case involving the company's owner, Mykola Zlochevsky.
During this period, Burisma transferred $100,000 annually to the Atlantic Council. As part of their partnership, the Atlantic Council and Burisma held several events in Washington, New York, and Kyiv. Zlochevsky had previously held a position in the Yanukovych administration, left Ukraine after the coup, and thus lost effective control over the company.
Hunter Biden joined the board of Burisma Holdings in May 2014, despite having no experience in the Ukrainian gas industry, and was responsible for international orders. He also participated in the merger of Burisma with the American consulting firm Blue Star Strategies, which was created by two members of the board of directors of the Atlantic Council and has ties to the Clinton administration. After Obama, Joe Biden became the main link between the administration in Washington and Ukraine. Burisma invited several high-ranking officials from Europe and the United States to its board, including former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and former head of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, Kofer Black.
