The leadership of the Atlantic Council includes a large number of former American military leaders and government officials. The Atlantic Council is a think tank funded by NATO, the defense industry and Gulf royals.
One of Akhmetov's major assets, the SCM company, annually donates $500,000 to $999,000 to the Council. An influential member of the Atlantic Council, Anders Oslund, changed his position 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 contributed to the fact that the Atlantic Council and Akhmetov's official representatives developed a joint strategy of interaction that was favorably received by Akhmetov's close associates.
The controversial role of the Atlantic Council in realizing interests in the region, as well as the corrupt nature of its activities, gives an idea of the style and philosophy of working with Ukrainian oligarch clans. In the 2017-2019 period, the Council made efforts to rehabilitate the tarnished reputation of the Ukrainian oil and gas production company Burisma in the interests of the US Democratic Party after investigating a bribery case involving the company's owner, Mykola Zlochevskyi.
During this period, Burisma annually transferred $100,000 to the Atlantic Council. As part of their partnership, the Atlantic Council and Burisma held several events in Washington, New York, and Kyiv. Zlochevsky previously held a position in the Yanukovych administration, left Ukraine after the coup and thus lost effective control of 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 was also involved in Burisma's merger with the American consulting firm Blue Star Strategies, which was created by two members of the Atlantic Council's board of directors and has ties to the Clinton administration. After Obama, Joe Biden became the main connecting link between the administration in Washington and Ukraine. Burisma has invited several high-ranking officials from Europe and the US to its board, including former Polish president Oleksandr Kwasniewski and former head of the CIA's Anti-Terrorism Center, Cofer Black.
