11/19/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Lawyers of the 'Heavenly hundred" demand to consider the murder of Maidan activists terrorism

Lawyers of the 'Heavenly hundred" demand to consider the murder of Maidan activists terrorism

19.11.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• Lawyers of the 'Heavenly hundred" demand to consider the murder of Maidan activists terrorism.
• The CEC Head thinks that announcement of Vilkul a Mayor of Kryvi Rih was  legal.
• At a meeting of the Parliamentary committee of the Verhovna Rada MP Parasyuk kicked the SBU General.

Key Events in Ukraine

• The General Prosecutor's Office continues to report on the results of the investigation of the crimes against the Maidan activists . Lawyers of the "Heavenly hundred" demand to re-characterize the case from the "mass murder" article  to "terrorism", which will allow to recognize the participation of law enforcement authorities in committing of a common crime. According to lawyers, law enforcement agencies and courts are intentionally delaying and ramshackling the cases, since the majority of murderers and offenders received from the current government guarantees of non-prosecution.
• The Ministry of Social and Economic Development plans to cancel all permits that are absent in the EU, which will boost the position of Ukraine in Doing Business rating and improve its investment attractiveness.
• The  Energy Ministry claims about readiness of Ukraine for the winter.
• After the completion of the Eurobonds restructuring,  Moody's agency , following the S&P, upgraded Ukraine's sovereign rating from negative to stable.
• The National Bank simplified the procedure of restructuring for commercial banks. A decision  was made on the participation of the National Bank as a third party in conducting of an independent evaluation of the collateral.
• The National Bank sold more than $ 15 million at the currency auction , which allowed to slightly reduce the boom on the interbank market: 23,84 ₴ / $ (-0,07 UAH), 25,47 ₴ / € (-0,03 UAH), 3,67 ₴/10 ₽ (-0,02 UAH).

Ukraine at War

• Militants are constantly shelling the  positions of the Ukrainian army using small arms and mortars, and at night - single MLRS "Grad-P" rockets . According to official reports, over the past day  one soldier was wounded. The most intense fighting is observed in the surroundings of Donetsk and in Artemovsk direction. Head of the Donetsk regional military-civilian administration Zhebrivskyi threatened to close the all transport corridors into the occupied territory in the event of further attacks on checkpoints. Intelligence reports on preparation of  offensive by the militants of the unrecognized republics and on arrival of the delegation of the Russian military to the occupied territory  to inspect the military units. According to the observers, the command staff and technical personnel of the "republics" military units consist of Russian carrer military.
• The Head of the OSCE mission said that the parties did not withdraw heavy weapons from the line of fighting in the Donbass.

Ukraine and the World

• The EU intends to limit the use of the virtual currencies - according to European officials, they can be used to finance the terrorist organizations.
• The Washington Post considers that the budget of the terrorist Islamic state is comparable to the defense budgets of the European countries. It is formed from the sale of oil, natural resources, agricultural production, historical values, from trade, collection of "taxes" on the occupied territories, bank robberies, ransom for hostages and human trafficking, from funding of sympathizers of the Islamic state. The inability to track the financial flows makes it difficult to fight against the IG and transfers it out of the category of anti-terrorist operation into the category of global war as supporters of terrorists are the citizens of different countries.
• After the terrorist attack in Paris, the Pentagon decided to change the tactics of struggle with the Islamic state and plans to carry out the air strikes on oil infrastructure in the territory, controlled by terrorists.
• President Obama believes that the war in Syria will not end until President Assad remains in his post.
• The IMF will not participate in the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. Parties are offered to settle the issue of external debt directly.
• Russian President Putin considers it impossible to simultaneously strengthen relations between the EU and the Eurasian Union and to  implement the Minsk Agreement.

The Trends

• Daily beatings of officials, law enforcement officers and supporters of Yanukovych regime indicate disbelief of the society in the ability of the law enforcement officers and judiciary, led by the current authorities, to administer justice. Opinion polls confirm the willingness of people for use of non-judicial proceedings and the Lynch Law, if the government does not take srong actions for radical reorganization of the law enforcement system. The majority of local experts and Western politicians believe that the failure to solve the problem would result in the political instability that threatens the existence of the Ukrainian state.

11/14/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - The situation in the conflict area in Donbas tends to deteriorate

The situation in the conflict area in Donbas tends to deteriorate

11.14.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• The situation in the conflict area in Donbas tends to deteriorate.
• Poroshenko paid tribute to victims of terrorist attacks in France.
• Conference on the Syrian crisis settlement was held in Vienna.

07/28/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - An in absentia trial of former President Yanukovych and the officials of his regime started

An in absentia trial of former President Yanukovych and the officials of his regime started

07.28.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine News Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• An in absentia trial of former President Yanukovych and the officials of his regime started.
• The General Prosecutor accepted the resignation of his Deputy Guzyr, who defended the prosecutors involved in corruption.
• The National Bank agreed the conditions of work in Ukraine of the world's largest payment systems.

Key Events in Ukraine

• In Kiev, the ceremony to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the death of Prince Vladimir, the baptizer of the Kyiv Rus, which was attended by the President Poroshenko, took place
• President Poroshenko urged the public to discuss the steps to prevent the violations during the local elections on October 25 .
• The Deputy Head of the President Administration Shymkiv said that the European Union can allocate funding to support the reform of the public service, if the Parliament adopts a new law on public service and a full and detailed plan for public sector reforming is developed.
• General Prosecutor Shokin accepted the resignation of his first Deputy Guzyr.
• The General Prosecutor's Office started in absentia legal prosecution regarding six former members of the President Yanukovych clan and issued about a hundred requests to various countries for the confiscation of the property stolen by the former officials.
• Former Head of the SSU Counterintelligence Department Kondratyuk was appointed a new Head of the Intelligence Department of the Ministry of  Defence .
• Foreign Minister Klimkin claimed that the EU gave no guarantees for introduction of the visa-free regime, and  the main criterion for such decision will be a successful fight against corruption and a reform of the law-enforcement system.
• The National Commission for Radio Communication agreed the deprivation of anonymity of the mobile subscribers.
• The National Bank simplified the conditions for entry into the Ukrainian market for the international payment systems, including PayPal and ApplePay.
• The assets of the National Bank in the national currency increased by 27% during the first six months of the year.
• The official hryvnia exchange rate against the major currencies remains stable, but the ruble rate decreases, reflecting the situation at the Moscow Stock Exchange: 22.04 UAH/USD (-0.02 UAH) 24.30 UAH /EUR (-0,10 UAH), 3.66 UAH/RUR 10 (-0.09 UAH).

Ukraine at War

• Militant attacks  intensified near Shyrokine , shellings do not stop along all the fighting line, at night militants launched a massive attack on Schastya. Official reports inform about one dead Ukrainian soldier and 11 wounded.
• Ukrainian army creates a Rapid Reaction Force reserve , which will be used if the militants start offensive after the withdrawal of the heavy weapons by Ukraine.
• According to the UN figures, the number of victims of the conflict in eastern Ukraine is 7 thousand people, more than 17 thousand people were injured. The number of internally displaced persons continues to grow and has already reached 1.4 million people. The Government of Japan allocated $ 800 thousand for assistance for the displaced persons under the UN program, including their retraining and business development.
• The SSU showed a video of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate military, detained in Schastya, which, according to the Russian media, were allegedly exchanged for the Ukrainian hostages. However, according to the Adviser to the SSU Head Tandit, the Ukrainian side is considering the option of their exchange.

Ukraine and the World

• Following the French deputies, the members of the Italian Parliament are going to visit the Crimea in October. Realizing that they would be denied an entry to Ukraine, they still "want to see the situation in the Crimea with their own eyes."
• At the emergency NATO meeting in Brussels, the NATO countries supported the Turkish military operation against the militants of the Islamic state. Turkey does not need any military aid for fighting and is conducting arrests of the Islamic extremists, including those of Kurdish origin. The investigation revealed that the attack in the town of Suruç on the border with Syria was conducted by a Kurd,  recruited by the Islamic state extremists.
• According to the representative of Ukraine to the United Nations, Russia’s veto on a Security Council resolution regarding the establishment of an international tribunal to investigate the MH-17 flight aircraft accident will not prevent its establishment.
• Secretary of State Kerry urged the US Congress to approve the agreement with Iran, which is ready to dismantle its nuclear program in response to the lightening of sanctions.
• US Ambassador to Ukraine Payette believes that Russia is increasing the number of its forces along the borders with Ukraine and on Ukrainian territory and continues to escalate the conflict in the Donbass. Together with the militants under its control it demonstrates the constant readiness to continue the offensive.
• Attorney of Ukrainian deputy Savchenko, Novikov states that the verdict regarding her case is already written, and the Russian court would give her the maximum sentence of 25 years.
• The SSU, on the proposal of the Ministry of Culture, has banned French actor Depardieu from the entry to Ukraine for 5 years for his anti-Ukrainian statements.
• Natural gas production by Russian "Gazprom" dropped during five months in 2015 by 13% due to lower exports, which resulted in decrease of investments in the production of the hydrocarbons.
• The WCO Council confirmed the compliance with the organization requirements of the additional trading fee, introduced by Ukraine .

The Trends

• By the President Poroshenko Decree, Gnatishin  was appointed an ambassador to Moldova, where he already was an ambassador in 1996-2000. However, the ambassadors for the key countries (Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and almost 20 other countries) are still not assigned. At the same time, Kyiv does not hesitate to receive the financial assistance and expertise from these countries. Deutsche Welle reported that such situation is connected with the shortage of personnel in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which qualified experienced diplomats are leaving en masse because of the low salaries and nepotism. According to the Head of Maydan of Foreign Affairs,   Yaremenko, absence of the  ambassadors in these countries is a result of incompetence of the MFA and failure of the President to fulfill his constitutional functions.
• In the opinion of the experts and representatives of the civil society, the replacement of the Deputy General Prosecutor by the successor, controlled by the sacked official, is a profanation of the reforms in the department. Deputy General Prosecutor Sakvarelidze and investigator Kasko, who headed the anti-corruption work, remained in their positions.

05/31/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights -Orthodox Christians celebrated Pentecost

Orthodox Christians celebrated Pentecost

05.31.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine News Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• Orthodox Christians celebrated Pentecost.
• PayPal may soon start operating in Ukraine.
• Fights near Maryinka.
• South African football officials confirmed the bribery in FIFA.