16/02/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - The Georgian prosecutor known for his fight against professional criminals in Georgia is appointed as a Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine

02/16/2014 Daily Highlights by "Digests & Analytics - Ukraine" News Agency

Topics of the day

The Georgian prosecutor known for his fight against professional criminals, so called "thieves in law", in Georgia is appointed as a Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine. The former head of the Party of Regions faction in Parliment Efremov taken into custody in the courtroom until a bail is posted. Rebels do not recognize the ceasefire regime in Donbass. New changes introduced by the government into the state 2015 budget are submitted to the Parliment.

Key Events of Ukraine

• The Prime Minister Yatsenyuk calls to stop purchasing all natural gas from Russia. 
• The experts from audit companies representing "Big Four" are to provide recommendations for further development of "Ukrspirt" state enterprise after completion of due diligence activity. 
• President Poroshenko brought the Prosecutor General Shokin into the National Security Council.
  The Prosecutor General has appointed his deputy, the former Deputy Prosecutor General of Georgia Sakvarelidze, known for his active involvement in the cleanup of Georgia from the "thieves in law". Among other things he will focus on crimes commited against Ukraine by the former President Yanukovych’s “family”.
  The Prosecutor General's Office announced the introduction of a new Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, working at the Anti-Corruption Bureau, and reporting directly to the Prosecutor General. 
• The court arrested the former head of the Party of Regions faction in the Parliment Efremov for 2 months, but he may be released for the duration of investigation on bail of 3.6 million UAH (approximately $ 140,000).
  The General Prosecutor's Office investigators conducted searches in the District Administrative Court of Kiev in the investigation on the case involving multiple court senctencing by judges who were actually abroad at the times of those rulings. 
• The Cabinet of Ministers introduced for approval to Verkhovna Rada the draft amendments to the state budget 2015, prepared in accordance with the memorandum on extended crediting by IMF.
  The average annual rate of 21.7 UAH / $ is budgeted for 2015. Ukraine is to start talks on restructuring the public debt in March. The Ministry of Finance is planning to receive the next tranche of the IMF loan in the amount of $ 10.8 billion.
  The National Bank has changed the principles of granting loans to commercial banks 'overnight', enhancing their ability to attract such loans using local bonds securities and certificates of deposit issued by the NBU.
  The NBU continues to reduce the official rate of hryvnia, which has passed the next psychological level mark: 26.05 UAH / USD (+0.13 UAH), 29.65 UAH/EUR (+0,29 UAH) 4.00 UAH / 10 RUR (+0.08 UAH). 

War in Ukraine

• The Russian-terrorist troops disrespect the truce; the number of shellings and attacks against Ukrainian position reached hundreds. Under the guise of the "truce" the militants carried out rotations and reinforcements, particularly in units that suffered losses in previous fights, and push to the front line the heavily-armed troops, reinforced by heavy artillery systems, armored vehicles and MLRS. The situation in the Debaltseve foothold remains extremely difficult. The pro-russian rebels prevent the OSCE mission observers from eneting Debaltseve. The headquarters of the antiterrorist operation refutes information about the encirclement of Ukrainian units.
  Near Mariupol, the militants are counterattacking positions previously taken by the Ukrainian army.
  Provocative attacks in Donetsk and Gorlovka continue. The SBU published another intercepted telephone conversation proving the participation by militants in these criminal acts.
  The General Staff said that Ukraine will not withdraw any heavy weapons from the line of contact until the complete ceasefire is observed. 
• According to the UN, the number of victims in Donbass conflict from April 2014 till now exceeded 5.6 thousand people, however experts refer to significantly larger numbers, given the removal of dead Russian soldiers and mercenaries from Ukraine and mass burials. 

Ukraine and the World

• The EU published a new list of individulas subjected to international sanctions. It includes officials from the Russian Ministry of Defense and the State Duma of the Russian Federation, as well as the leaders and militants from DNR and LNR. 
• Gazprom continues to lose ground on the natural gas market in Europe under pressure from the export of liquefied gas. In 2014, Gazprom reduced deliveries by almost 14% and showed the worst export performance in 20 years, in part due to its attempts to limit pumping gas into countries that implemented reverse deliveries of the gas to Ukraine. 
• VISA payment service plans to implement encryption of card numbers in payment terminals and online payments already in the spring of this year. 

The Trends

• The "Minsk Agreements" are designed to have different interpretations by the parties. There are no specified actions such as withdrawal of heavy armored vehicles, air defense equipment and banning of the use of aviation. The actual line separating sides is not documented, and the Ukrainian-Russian border remains open for the invasion. The Ukrainian volunteer battalions can also be considered as Illegal armed groups. These will inevitably lead to the failure of the agreements, with President Poroshenko likely to incurr the greatest reputation and power losses, particularly in case of Ukrainian forces defeat at Debaltseve. 
• Political and econimical observers have linked the sharp rise in oil prices on world markets in the past three weeks to Russia's influence on the ISIS militants, who destabilize the situation in the oil-producing countries, as well as on the ongoing strike by Petroleum Union in the USA. 
• The draft law on the gas market is drastically rewritten at the request of the IMF to bring it into line with the European Energy Charter. It must be passed by Parliament before receiving the next IMF tranche.