01/26/2016 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Ukraine ranked 130th in Corruption Perception Index

Ukraine ranked 130th in Corruption Perception Index

01.26.2016 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• Ukraine ranked 130th in Corruption Perception Index.
• Repeat election has been scheduled in Kryvyi Rih.
• MPs want to hear Yatsenyuk’s government report on February 5.
• Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov lied about Russia's commitments under the Budapest memorandum.

Key Events in Ukraine

• President Poroshenko appointed two judges of the Constitutional Court from his quota.
• After the Parliament failed to vote on the cancellation of re-election in Kryvyi Rih, Parliament Speaker Groisman signed a law on repeat election in the city to be held on March 27, 2016.
• MPs aileld to adopt a bill needed to launch large-scale privatization, limiting the participation in tenders of business entities registered in countries recognized by the Parliament aggressors.
• The Budget Code was amended to allow the Government to provide government guarantees for the purchase of gas in the EU.
• Financial threshold for obtaining a permit for acquiring Ukrainian enterprises  by foreign companies and for merging Ukrainian enterprises has been raised as per the IMF requirement.
• Cabinet dissolved the state-owned Antonov concern after all its enterprises were transferred to Ukroboronprom.
• The US Embassy announced that the sarcophagus over the Fourth Unit of Chernobyl NPP was planned to be completed by November 2016. The United States is the largest donor to the project.
• Health Minister Kvitashvili acknowledged that the flu epidemic threshold has been exceeded in 18 regions of the country. The quarantine in Kyi schools was extended until February 1.
• Ukraine ranked 130th among 172 countries in 2015 Corruption Perception Index, going up from the 142th position the previous year thanks to the establishment of anti-corruption agencies. Russia ranked 119th.
• Finance Minister Yaresko said that the IMF had no claims to the draft budget adopted for 2016, and that the next tranche of $1.7 billion was likely to be allocated in the near future..
• NBU again slightly lowered the hryvnia exchange rate: 24.85 ₴/$ (+0.02 UAH), 26.93 ₴/€ (+0.07 UAH), 3.04 ₴/10 ₽ (-0.16 UAH).

Kyiv

• Kyiv Mayor Klitschko acknowledged the lack of results of the fight against corruption, as no perpetrators have been punished.

Ukraine at War

• During the fighting in Donbas over the past day, two soldiers were wounded in Pisky and Maryinka. Medium intensity fighting continues near Donetsk and Horlivka. Ukrainian army positions near Pisky were attacked by tank fire.
• Chief Military Prosecutor Matios said that according to international practice, Russian special forces operatives convicted by Ukrainian court could be extradited to Russia to serve their sentences.

Ukraine and the World

• PACE adopted a resolution recognizing the legitimacy of the practice of imposing sanctions against deputies visiting occupied territories without the permission of the victim of aggression. In this way, a travel ban on deputies who visited Crimea is legitimate.
• PACE Secretary General Jagland acknowledged that the mechanisms available within the organization would not allow to return Crimea to Ukraine and ensure the human rights of the peninsula’s residents.
• Russian Security Council Secretary Patrushev acknowledged Donbas to be Ukrainian territory and said that Ukraine should preserve its integrity, and the Minsk Agreements should be fully implemented. At the same time, he is convinced that the international community should recognize Crimea to be Russian territory.
• Russian President Putin said that the borders of the republics of the Soviet Union were delimited arbitrarily, and Donbas was included in Ukraine to "increase the percentage of proletarians."
• Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov lied, claiming that Russia has not violated the provisions of the Budapest Memorandum, under which Ukraine received the guarantees of sovereignty and territorial integrity in exchange for nuclear disarmament. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry offered to hold consultations with the participation of the signatory countries.

The Trends

• People’s Front party stated that amendments to the Constitution should only be made by a referendum, and that the party would not vote in Parliament for the amendments until Russia meets all its obligations under the Minsk Agreements. Deputy Head of Petro Poroshenko Bloc parliamentary faction Kononenko said that the faction wanted to postpone the vote on the amendments to the Constitution with regard to decentralization and the special status of the occupied territories to the next parliamentary session. For that end, he proposed to amend the regulations to be able to vote amendment during any following session rather than during the next session after the adoption of the bill in the first reading. Proceedings opened by the Prosecutor General's Office against Samopomitch party MP Semenchenko for illegally obtaining military rank and the adoption of the bill on repeat elections in Kryvyi Rih seem to be an attempt by the presidential team to put pressure on Samopomitch faction to get the votes for the amendments to the Constitution. However, given the position of the Batkıvschyna, the Radical Party and the People’s Front, such scenario becomes much less likely.
• Parliamentary faction leaders scheduled for February 5 the government report to the MPs. The written report should be submitted for consideration to Parliamentary committees in advance. Head of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction Lutsenko said that the faction opposed the resignation of Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, which could destabilize the country, but changes should be made to the Cabinet. Samopomitch proposed to dismiss the Government, but opposed ruining the coalition.
• Bloomberg journalists believe that the US and the EU are preparing to lift the sanctions against Russia in order to stop the civil war in Syria and reduce the military confrontation level in the Middle East to decrease the flow of migrants to Europe. This is evidenced by the statements of French and German officials, as well as of the US Secretary of State Kerry.