 On 11 April 2014, he urged big Ukrainian business to act according to the logic of "economic patriotism" and buy up goods in domestic companies.A profile piece published about Firtash by the BBC on 30 April 2014, stated that because he acted as a go-between in the gas trade between Turkmenistan and Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine prime minister at the time made hostile attempts to push Firtash and his firm out of Ukraine-Russia gas control negotiations in 2009.In an interview given to the BBC in May 2014, Firtash protested his innocence, denied paying bribes and any links to organized crime.