23/10/2014 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Russia continues to deploy military units and combat equipment to Ukrainian territory.

23/10/2014 Daily Highlights from “Digests & Analytics Ukraine” News Agency

Militants use relative calm in Donbass combat area to regroup their forces and reinforce them with reserves. Russia continues to deploy military units and combat equipment to Ukrainian territory. Only a part of combat actions participants will be able to vote in the early parliamentary elections. The EU has extended duty-free import preferences for Ukraine until 2015.

Ukraine

• President Poroshenko appointed Nazarenko to the position of the Head of the State Border Control Agency. Until recently he’s been working as the First Deputy Head of the Agency. During his trip to Odessa, after a field check of the largest wholesaler market in the country named "7 kilometer", Poroshenko criticized contraband prevention efforts of law enforcement agencies and customs.
• National Bank demonstrates the stability of the exchange rate before the elections: 12.95 UAH/USD, 16.43 UAH/EUR (-9 cop), 3.16 UAH/10 RUB (+1 cop). National Bank continues the policy of banks liquidity support via  refinancing and overnight credits. According to the «Authorities Purification Act», Deputy Chair of the NBU Prykhodko has been fired, which was connected to plundering of  the Agrarian Fund assets.
• Prime Minister Yatsenyuk mentioned in an interview that new government will need to conduct immediate negotiations with the IMF to increase the amount of the stabilization credit.
• Defense Minister Poltorak announced that less than 10,000 of combat actions participants will be able to vote during the early parliamentary elections. The rest will be deprived of this opportunity as parliament failed to approve the amendments to the elections legislation.
• National Commission on Energy and Communal Services Regulation has set quite modest electricity tariffs for consumers, who are using electric heating systems instead of natural gas ones.

War in Ukraine

• Relative calm prevails in the combat zone. Number os shellings of Ukrainian army positions declined. However, there is evidence of re-grouping of terrorists forces, as well as of supplies of ammunition and deployment of new Russian troops on Ukrainian territory. Avdiivka, Mariupol, suburbs of Volnovakha, Stanitsa Luhanskaya and Debaltseve have been shelled.
• Militants evacuate their families and wounded from Donetsk. Experts foresee a possibility of a large scale provocation during the early parliamentary elections. Marking of the militant armored vehicles with Ukrainian insignia have been evidenced.
• Russian troops deployed in Luhansk, where they’re instructing and training the militants, gave an interview to The Financial Times, where they’ve confirmed that Russia continues to deploy its troops in Ukraine.

International

• EU member states adopted a joint policy in the areas of energy efficiency and prevention of global climate changes for 2020-2030, which assumes a decline in Russian oil and gas consumption, increase of sustainable energy share to 27% and ta respective growth of energy efficiency.
• The session of the UN Executive Committee on Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) confirmed that Crimea is a part of Ukraine. Russia, Cuba and China voted against the decision.
• Sweden increased its defense budget and stopped military cooperation with Russia.
• Ukraine appealed to the WTO, accusing Russia of breaching the agreement and violation of international trade standards via introduction of ban for Ukrainian plant product imports.
• European Parliament has extended trade preferences for Ukraine until 2015.

Trends

• Experts who’ve analyzed the elections campaigns and programs of various parties are sure, that majority of claims and promises are populistic and aimed to get the votes only, but not to solve real life problems. Small and mid-size business support is just declarative, and none of the parties have clear and straightforward vision of economic reforms.
• Chamber of Commerce issues conclusions of a force majeure circumstances based on data from the NBU in the absence of legal recognition of the state of war.
  Trade Chamber provides force majeure conclusions, based on the NBU data while legal recognition of the martial law is not in place.