05/29/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights -The Cabinet proposed to appoint Saakashvili as the head of the Odessa Regional State Administration

Former Georgian President Saakashvili

05.29.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine News Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• The Cabinet proposed to appoint Saakashvili as the head of the Odessa Regional State Administration.
• FIFA President Sepp Blatter re-elected despite accusations in a billion dollar corruption.
• "Roshen" owned by President Poroshenko appealed the seizure of its Lipetsk plant to a Moscow court.

Key Events in Ukraine

• The Cabinet of Ministers proposed appoint Saakashvili as the head of the Odessa Regional State Administration to President Poroshenko.
• Procedural committee of the Verkhovna Rada endorsed the submission of the General Prosecutor's Office to prosecute the deputy Melnichuk, but did not give permission for his arrest. Melnichuk filed a lawsuit against the Prosecutor General Shokin, accusing him of false testimony discrediting business reputation.
• President Poroshenko met German Foreign Minister Steinmeier to discuss the peace process in the Donbass, and assistance for reforms in Ukraine. Germany will open an additional credit line of €500 million for the maintenance of financial stability in Ukraine, improving energy efficiency of the economy and infrastructure recovery.
• President Poroshenko fired ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg, who was also a part-time head of the Ukrainian mission to NATO.
• Finance Minister Yaresko is set to a positive outcome of the negotiations with creditors on restructuring of state debt. According to her, Ukraine is gradually getting out of the crisis. $2.4 billion were already spent on servicing the state debt since the beginning of the year, but the  Extended Fund Facility Program program by IMF allowed stabilization of the hryvnia.
• The official hryvnia exchange rate remains stable: 21.09 UAH/USD (+0.04 UAH), 23.13 UAH/EUR (+0,20 UAH), 3.98 UAH/RUB 10 (-0.05 UAH).

Ukraine at War

• One Ukrainian soldier was killed and six injured as well as two civilians in the fighting in the Donbass during last day. Militants used heavy artillery to fire on villages in the surrounding area of ​​Donetsk and Artemivsk. Skirmishes and clashes are happening along the demarcation line.
  Defense Minister Poltorak believes in high probability of increased hostilities.
• The leader of the DPR militants Zakharchenko told the OSCE mission that he will not be able to participate in official meetings till the end of July due to health reasons.
• The General Staff said that NATO adopts Ukraine's experience in a hybrid war started by Russia.
• Russian Consul called GRU servicemen captured in the battle near Shchastya as mercenaries and "LPR police".

Ukraine and the World

• The current president of the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) Blatter was re-elected again, despite the arrests of officials accused of corruption. US Dept. of Justice investigators are preparing additional charges and decline the assumption of an attempt to influence the decisions of the federation in the selection of countries for the World Championships. The FIFA headquarters confirmed that regardless of the outcome of the investigation, Russia and Qatar will retain the right to host the World Cup.
• The Minister of Defence of Moldova Cibotaru called Russia a potential enemy, and announced the opening of the NATO office in Chisinau.
• Speaker for the White House Earnest said that the summit G7 which will be held early in June in Germany will discuss new sanctions against Russia, which has to pay the increasing price for the violation of the sovereignty of Ukraine.
• Spain allows to increase the contingent of US rapid response forces placed on its territory as a part of the expansion of NATO's presence in Europe due to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
• "Normandy Four format” meeting of the of deputy foreign ministers of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine is scheduled for June 10 in Paris.
• Sberbank of Russia will not work in the Crimea because of the threat of sanctions.
• Crimean authorities have opened a criminal case on the infringement of the territorial integrity of the country against the head of the Majlis of the Crimean Tatar people Chubarov.

The Trends

• According to the author of Polish reforms Balcerowicz, Ukraine needs to eliminate the monopoly, to conduct large-scale privatization and to achieve fiscal stability in order to start the economic growth.
• Experts believe that the decrease in the total state debt of Ukraine which was observed in April will be replaced in May by an increase due to additional government borrowing under the guarantee of the United States and receiving macro-financial assistance from the EU.