December 10, 2014

09/12/2014 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - The Government announced a program of action for 2015-2016

Правительство Украины обнародовало программу действий на 2015-2016 годы

09/12/2014 Daily Highlights by the "Digests and Analytics - Ukraine" News Agency

Topics of the day


The Ukrainian government announced a program of action for 2015-2016. Militants continued shelling residental areas and positions of Ukrainian troops during the "Day of Silence" announced yesterday. Europe is looking for alternative gas supplies which bypass Russia.

Events In Ukraine

  • The Cabinet of Ministers adopted its program of activities, which is designed for 2 years and includes short-term actions to implement reforms in key social and economic areas.
    Prime Minister Yatsenyuk announced the adoption of a new law on economic competition and the re-election of authorities of the State Antimonopoly Committee.
    Transition to insurance-based medical service has been planned, as well as phased cutting of the unified social payment and unified tax rate. Also military spending will grow up to 5% of GDP .
  • A new Head of  Higher Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine was elected. It is responsible for the appointment of judges and disciplinary investigations against the juditial corps.
  • Hryvnia exchange rate against the USD fell again: 15.58 UAH/$ (0.05 UAH), 19.09 UAH/ € (-0,10 UAH) 2.92 UAH / 10 rubles. Due to restrictions set by the National Bank, the official volume of purchases of foreign currency by Ukrainians decreased 16 times.

Kiev

  • In case of  termination of gas supply, heating oil stocks at Kiev CHP will last for 2-3 weeks.
  • 31 heads of municipal enterprises of the capital have been dismissed due to financial violations.

War in Ukraine

  • After the announcement of the "day of silence", the number of terrorists’ attacks on residental areas decreased, but fightings using artillery and tanks continued in the regions of Donets’k airport, Stanitsa Lugans’ka, Debaltseve, Mayors’k, Maryinka. Ukrainian army did not open fire in response.
  • Contact group talks on resolving the situation in the Donbass scheduled for December 9th didn’t take place. A new date for negotiations being planed for December, 11th.
  • Explosion in the volunteer center for support of Ukrainian Army Forces in Odessa  continued the series of terrorist attacks against volunteer organizations.
  • State Border Service noted a withdrawal of Russian troops from Kherson region, Chongarsky Peninsula and Arabat Spit.
  • The invasion of the Ukraine by the next Russian "humanitarian" convoy is scheduled for December 12th.

Ukraine and the World

  • Energy ministers of eight EU member states and the European Commission are planning to find a replacement for natural gas supplies from Russia through the "South Stream". Among them - the construction of LNG terminals, development of shelf deposits of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean and using gas from the Caspian region.
    The Head of the Ministry of Economy and Energy of Germany said that the project "South Stream" can be renewed in the future after normalizing of the relations between  EU, Ukraine and Russia.
    The European Commission is ready to provide financial support to Greece, Bulgaria and Romania for the construction of a natural gas pipeline from Azerbaijan.
  • European Union understands Ukrainian financial problems and is going to increase the volume of macro-financial assistance, which now amounts to about 1.61 billion €, while IMF sould be considered as the main investor.
  • At a closed meeting of the Duma (Parliament) of the Russian Federation, the status of the Russian "volunteers" in the Donbass and the possibility of compensation to the families whose members was killed in the military actions were discussed.
  • The World Bank predicts that in 2015 Russia will enter into a recession, which could last for 2 years and will lead to a drop in consumer demand and reduced investment due to the fall in energy prices and the lack of access to financial markets.
  • Russia has sharply increased activity of military aircraft, including strategic bombers over the Baltic Sea. NATO Air Forces had to be enacted to intercept them 13 times per the day.
  • During the German Chancellor Merkel's speech at the congress of the CDU in Cologne, she has threatened Russia with tougher sanctions in case of escalation of the conflict in the Ukraine, even if the sacntions are going to be harmful to the economy of Germany.

Trends


  • Prosecutor General's Office denies accusations in the termination of cooperation with the International Criminal Court in The Hague, even though there are still no real results of investigation of crimes against the Maidan.
  • Russia is trying to disrupt the volunteer movement in Ukraine by pursuing terrorist attacks against them across the country.

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