12/28/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Farmers blocked the traffic on the major highways

Farmers blocked the traffic on the major highways

12.28.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• Farmers blocked the traffic on the major highways.
• Leader of the Ukrop party Korban was arrested for two months.
• Former leader of the Right Sector Yarosh announced about the creation of a new movement.

Key Events in Ukraine

• President Poroshenko signed the Law on foreign broadcasting, adopted by the Verkhovna Rada at the beginning of December .
• Head of the Parliamentary faction of the Poroshenko Bloc Lutsenko said that the party is preparing for the possible early elections.
• During the court session, which lasted for more than a day, leader of the Ukrop party Korban was arrested for two months . The court did not grant the request of the Prosecutor's Office to extend the house arrest for former Minister of Justice Lucash and returned her bail and foreign passport.The arrest terms for former members of "Berkut" special forces , which are accused of the shooting at the activists on the Maidan, were extended .
• Ukrainian farmers blocked the traffic on the Kiev-Odessa and Kharkiv-Simferopol highways , protesting against the changes to legislation which deprive them of preferential tax treatment.
• In December Ukraine imported almost 400 million m3 of natural gas, all supplies were only from Europe.
• After the weekend the official hryvnia rate plummeted: 23.81 ₴/$ (+0.67 UAH), 26.10 ₴/€ (+0.77 UAH), 3.36 ₴/10 ₽ (+0.07 UAH) .

Ukraine at War

• Militants, disguised as Ukrainian soldiers,, fired from the small arms a town of Zaitsevo near Gorlovka. According to official reports, during the previous day Ukrainian military suffered no losses,  the situation in the conflict zone stabilized.
• Head of the Donetsk regional military-civilian administration Zhebrivskyi said that he could not dismiss the officials and mayors involved in separatism, because he has no authority to do this, it must be dealt with by the law enforcement agencies.

Ukraine and the World

• Deputy Minister of Trade of Ukraine Mykolska said that, despite the entrering into force of the economic part of the Association Agreement with the EU, the Republic of Belarus does not terminate the agreement on a free trade zone with Ukraine.
• Russia's permanent representative to the EU, Chizhov said it is necessary to resume the tripartite talks on free trade zone between Ukraine and the EU, despite the statements of the European officials and Foreign Minister Klimkin about lack of prospects regarding this matter.
• Iran, in the framework of the closure of the program of nuclear weapons production, transferred to Russia 11 tons of low-enriched uranium, including research reactor plates. The US welcomed Iran's actions and said that IAEA experts have to confirm that the uranium reserves in the country do not exceed the established in the agreement on the lifting of sanctions quota of 300 kg, as well as the implementation of other key commitments.
• Turkish General Staff reported on the successful destruction of the Kurdish terrorist group. During the raid 211 militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party were  killed.
• Russia expanded its list of sanctions against Turkey, to which were included not only Turkish company, but also enterprises controlled by Turkish citizens.
• Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dvorkovich admitted that oil prices could fall to $ 25- $ 20 per barrel, but it can not last for a long time. The policy of the country does not depend on the world prices for energy resources, and is determined by the situation. Head of the Russian Ministry of Energy Novak accused Saudi Arabia of dumping and destabilization of the oil market due to increase of its production to the record levels.

The Trends

• Depriving the farmers of the tax relief will hit small and medium producers and lead to the curtailment of the agricultural production, which in turn will cause an increase in unemployment and aggravate the social situation in the country.
• According to civil society activists, President Poroshenko tries to prevent the participation of the Ukrop party leader  Korban in the elections to the Verkhovna Rada for the Dnepropetrovsk district,  using the fabricated criminal cases. At the same time the authorities do not pursue former officials of the Yanukovich regime and do not fight the corruption schemes in the Government and Presidential Administration. Some experts point to the similarity of motivation of Presidents Yanukovych and Poroshenko in proceedings against their political opponents Tymoshenko and Korban.