April 30, 2015

04/29/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Video negotiations of contact group with the Donbass militants

Video negotiations of contact group with the Donbass militants
The representative of Ukraine in the contact group, former President Kuchma

04/29/2015 Daily Highlights  by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine News Agency

Topics from the Media and Social Networks

  • Video negotiations of contact group with the Donbass militants.
  • Oligarch Firtash asks Poroshenko for protection against the Prime Minister Yatsenyuk’s team.
  • The Communists are planning to hold meetings in Kiev on May 1st.
  • Protests of "Right Sector" near the President’s Administration building.

Key Events of Ukraine

  • The Communists are going to hold a march in Kiev on May 1 and asked the OSCE observers to monitor the observance of human rights during the demonstration. Communist Party has the right to organize the event as a law banning the Communist ideology, adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, was not yet signed by the President.
  • The Ministry of Internal Affairs is investigating the activities of the managers of oligarch Firtash's enterprises and officials of the "Naftogaz" over the  embezzlement of state property in especially big amounts and abuse of official position.
    The court arrested the natural gas belonging to these companies, and handed it over to the care and custody of the "Ukrtransgaz" state enterprise. Group DF, the management company of Firtash, asked President Poroshenko to take measures to stop the repressions by the group of the officials from the "People's Front" party, including the Prime Minister Yatsenyuk.
  • The State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported on the localization of a large forest fire in the surroundings of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
  • The Antimonopoly Committee has imposed a half a billion hryvnia fine on the largest retail chains for the cartel agreement with the purpose of goods and products overpricing in 2010-2011.
  • The Head of the NBU Gontareva stated that the first stage of the banking system purification will be completed by the end of June. By this time all the major banks will increase capital and the banks with systemic risks will be completely removed from the market. After that, the reboot and liberalization of the banking sector will start, which will take at least a year.
  • The IMF mission will continue its work in Ukraine till May 12.
  • The NBU continues to dramatically decrease the official hryvnia exchange rate: 21.04 UAH /USD (-1.22 UAH), 23.16 UAH/EUR (-1,17 UAH), 4.07 UAH /RUR 10 (-0.19 UAH) .

Ukraine at War

  • Deputy Defense Minister of Russia Antonov claimes that from September 2014, 70 Russian officers are working in Ukraine. They work in a joint control and coordination center for the ceasefire at the invitation of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine did not give permission for their presence in the country.
  • As a result of shellings and attacks one Ukrainian soldier was killed and at least three soldiers were wounded. President Poroshenko announced about high probability of escalation of the situation in the Donbass.
  • As a result of videoconferencing between the representatives of working group to resolve the crisis in the Donbass the representative of Ukraine, former President Kuchma called for using of sub-working groups for the realization of economic, humanitarian and political components of the Minsk Agreement as soon as possible.
  • Russian Foreign Minister during a telephone conversation with the Head of the US Department of State demanded that the Ukrainian government conduct direct negotiations with the militants of the Donbass "republics".
  • The OSCE monitoring mission representatives confirmed that the shelling of settlements on the territory controlled by the militants near Mariupol was carried out by the militants themselves. Militants still prohibit the access of the OSCE observers to the areas where the heavy equipment is located.
  • SBU detained the organizers of the "People's Republic of Kiev" who spread the  provocative materials and were involved in subversive activities and recruitment through the Internet.

Ukraine and the World

  • The Assistant Secretary of State Nuland said that the United States is ready to join the negotiations on the Donbass in the "Normandy format" if all other participants would agree to that.
  • Ukraine's Foreign Ministry demanded to stop the Russian officials from visiting the Crimea and explain the reasons for demonstrative disregard of the Ukrainian legislation by the Prime Minister Medvedev.
  • EU Ambassador to the United States O'Sullivan said that sanctions against Russia will not be canceled before the end of the year .

The Trends


  • In Kiev, near the President’s Administration building, the action of the "Right Sector" fighters took  place in response to the blocking of their training base by the armed forces. The General Staff assured that there were no orders to disarm the volunteers. The leader of the "Right Sector" Yarosh urged to press President Poroshenko and the Verkhovna Rada into speedy adopting of the Law on Volunteer Corps. NSDC Secretary Turchynov believes that the only way for volunteers legitimization is their entry into the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

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