07/02/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - The Verkhovna Rada approved the appointment of Gen.Grytsak as a new Head of the Security Service of Ukraine

The new Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Gen. Grytsak

07.02.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine News Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• The Verkhovna Rada by overwhelming majority approved the appointment of Gen. Grytsak as a new Head of the Security Service of Ukraine.
• A Law on conversion of foreign currency loans was approved by the MPs.
• The Ministers of Environment and Health were fired.
• The National Police is establised in Ukraine.
• The wearing of "balaklava” masks was prohibited in Kyiv.

Key Events In Ukraine

• The session day of the Verkhovna Rada was very tense.
  The President Poroshenko’s draft law on Amendments to the Constitution, the final paragraph of which legalizes the existence of the special status for certain areas of the Donbass, was published at the official Parliament website.
  General Gritsak, whose candidacy was proposed by the President, with the support of the majority of the MPs, became the new Head of the Security Service of Ukriane (SSU).
  Minister of Health Kvitashvili resigned. The Verkhovna Rada also supported the resignation of Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Shevchenko, who was elected under the quota of the "Batkivschina" party.
  As a part of law enforcement services reform, the Law on Internal Affairs, regulating the relationship between the Interior Ministry and its subordinate executive power bodies was adopted. The deputies established a new security agency called the National Police.
  After repeated failures of voting and numerous violations of internal Parliament procedure, the amendments to the Law on the prosecutor's office were also adopted.
  Amendments to the law on the citizens' appeals, which introduce a mechanism of electronic petitions to the President, the Verkhovna Rada, the Cabinet of Ministers and the local authorities, were also approved .
  A law on the Audit Chamber, its composition and Chamber members salaries formation was approved.
  The deputies adopted the controversial law on the conversion of foreign currency loans at the rate 5.05 UAH/$, applicable at the time of their obtaining. Later, some of the deputies announced that they recall their votes. The NBU demands the cancellation of this law and states that it contradicts the position agreed with the IMF for continuation of the crediting program for  Ukraine.
• The Court of Appeals confirmed the detention of one of the suspects in the murder of anti-Ukrainian journalist Buzina, but witnesses did not confirm his participation in the crime.
• The Ministry of Economic Development announced that Ukrainian companies will be able to export to the United States duty-free more than 500 commodity positions already starting from the end of July 2015.
• The Government removed from office the Head of the Ministry of Transport, in respect of which governor of the Odessa region Saakashlvili raised suspicions of lobbying the interests of the Ukraine International Airlines company.
• Minister of Energy Demchishin informed that the natural gas talks with Russia are scheduled for the next week. There are no plans to supply the natural gas to the occupied territories and no payments regarding these supplies are to be made to Russia.
• The Cabinet of Ministers appointed the former Director General of the "Raiffeisen Bank Aval” asset management company Mosiychuk a head of the State Reserve.
• The IMF approved the first revision of the expanded crediting program for Ukraine and is ready to provide the next tranche in the amount of $ 1.7 billion.
• The official hryvnia exchange rate remains stable: 21.01 UAH/USD, 23.32 UAH/EUR (-0,07 UAH), 3.78 UAH/RUR 10 (-0.01 UAH).

Ukraine at War

• In the fighting zone in the Donbass a relative inactivity is observed, the number of attacks  significantly decreased, but Donetsk, Gorlivka, Zolote and Trehizbenka in the Luhansk region are still remaining the flash points. The militants freed a part of the Shyrokino village near Mariupol and moved to the prepared positions. According to official reports, during the day, four Ukrainian soldiers were wounded.
• The DPR militants announced about future local elections on the territories under their control on  October 18. US Vice President Biden and President Poroshenko believe that such action would be a violation of the Minsk agreements by the Russian side .
• The SSU materials, showing that the militants in the Donbass are led by the Russian generals and senior officers, whose names were also mentioned, were published in the US.

Ukraine and the World

• Russia strongly opposed the creation of an international tribunal, that Malaysia, the Netherlands, Belgium and Ukraine offered the UN Security Council to establish to prosecute the individuals who shot down a flight MH-17 airliner  over the Donbass.
• The Russian authorities decided to hold a closed hearing of the case of Ukrainian director Sentsov, accused of terrorism.
• The European Parliament does not recognize the right to annex the Crimea under any circumstances and considers denunciation of the agreement on the state border with Ukraine, initiated by Russia, a provocation.
• The EU is ready to consider the funding of Ukrainian natural gas purchases only after the approval of the plan of such purchases.
• The EBRD is ready to help Ukraine with a loan for the purchase of natural gas and to assist in the privatization process.
• Russia is ready to provide Armenia a loan of $ 200 million which will be used for the purchase "Iskander-M" missile complexes by the Armenian armed forces . This threatens the Russian-Azerbaijani relations and energy products transit through the South Caucasus to the Black and Mediterranean seas.

The Trends

• The experts are convinced that the President will veto the law on conversion of foreign currency loans at the rate, applicable at the time of their obtaining, and the adoption of the law itself was a PR-action of the deputies and the atempt to divert the public attention from the changes to the Constitution.
• The submission of the Head of the anti-corruption prosecutors’ office to the General Prosecutor negates its value as an independent body to combat corruption in the upper echelons of power.