KIEV, Ukraine — In a surprising move after Russia flexed its military might in the Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine’s new leadership has reached out to oligarchs for help — appointing them as governors in eastern regions where loyalties to Moscow are strong.

With their wealth, influence and self-interest in preventing further conflict, the governors could be the key to calming tensions and maintaining Ukraine’s control in areas where pro-Russian activists have stoked separatist tensions.

But the decision to appoint the country’s richest men as regional administrators has its risks. Some believe the oligarchs, who have a history of manipulating governments, may become too entrenched in their new jobs and could use their posts for personal gain.

The unexpected move drew instant ire from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who called one of the oligarchs, Ukraine’s third-richest man, Ihor Kolomoisky, a “swindler.”

“They name oligarchs, billionaires as governors of eastern regions,” Putin said during a news conference earlier this week. “Naturally, people don’t accept that.”

Under Ukrainian law, governors are appointed by the country’s president instead of being elected. After President Viktor Yanukovych fled for Russia last month in the wake of mass protests against his government and deadly clashes with police, acting President Oleksandr Turchynov fired Yanukovych’s appointees and replaced them with his own.

Kolomoisky, a metals, banking and media tycoon, was named governor of his native region of Dnipropetrovsk, while Serhiy Taruta, the country’s 16th-richest man, according to Forbes Ukraine, was named governor of his home Donetsk region. Both oligarchs are seen as pro-European and Kolomoisky’s media have provided sympathetic coverage of the pro-Western protests.

The move comes after other top oligarchs, including the country’s richest man and a key backer of Yanukvoych’s Party of Regions, Rinat Akhmetov, called for preserving Ukraine’s unity.

Experts said the appointments demonstrated that despite its strong ties to Russia, industry leaders in eastern Ukraine who provide jobs to tens of thousands of Ukrainians are against a split-up.

“The oligarchs taking on this responsibility is a demonstration of their commitment to an independent, sovereign and territorially integrated Ukraine,” former U.S. Ambassador John Edward Herbst told The Associated Press.

For the head of a Kiev think tank, the decision to appoint the tycoons was a shrewd move.

“It’s a creative solution, which was dictated by the current circumstances,” said Ihor Burakovsky, of the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting. “A revolutionary situation requires revolutionary actions.”

In Donetsk, a coal-mining region that borders Russia, Taruta said he had never planned to serve in the government, but accepted the governor’s post because his country was finding itself “in dangerous times.”

“My decision is a desire to protect our country,” said Taruta, who is the leader of a large industrial group and the head of a soccer club.