KIEV, Oct. 7 – OJSC ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih (earlier Kryvorizhstal, Dnipropetrovsk region) and its investor ArcelorMittal have been suffering from pressure from the central authorities, Oleh Rybachuk, an independent member of the ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih board and former deputy prime minister, told Interfax-Ukraine.

He said that after the reinforcement of the executive power structure and cancellation of the constitutional reform, any attempts to explain that the situation was due to internal power conflicts, as when Yulia Tymoshenko was premier and Viktor Yuschenko was president, could not now be taken seriously.

"This is a personal challenge to the management model, which Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych presents with each step. Now the investor understands that the question is only of person – the president," he said.