May 06, 2015

05/05/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - The Head of the State Fiscal Service appointed

The Head of the State Fiscal Service appointed
The Head of the State Fiscal Service Nasirov

05.05.2015  Daily Highlights  by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine News Agency

Topics from the Media and Social Networks

  • The Head of the State Fiscal Service appointed.
  • The evacuation of Ukrainians from Nepal still not completed.
  • SSU is ready to reform the pass entry system in the Anti-Terrorist Operation area.
  • The EU refused to postpone the introduction of the free trade zone with Ukraine on demand of Russian.
  • Moscow court predictably prolonged the arrest of Nadezhda Savchenko.

Key Events of Ukraine

  • President Poroshenko signed the law on regulating of the natural gas market, which delimitates the extraction, transportation and supply of natural gas and introduces free pricing. It is announced that the law was adopted within the framework of the implementation of the Association Agreement with the EU.
  • Based on the results of professionals competition, the Cabinet appointed the Verkhovna Rada deputy from the "Petro Poroshenko Blok", Nasirov, who was previously an investment banker and a head of the parliamentary committee on tax and customs policy, as a Head of the State Fiscal Service. Prime Minister Yatsenyuk gave the newly appointed Head of SFS three months to carry out the fundamental reforms in the department. Nasirov promised that till the fall the concept of the tax system will be completely renewed and the budget for 2016 will be adopted with the use of the new tax base.
  • Ukraine reduced the purchases of the natural gas from Europe, while increasing the supplies of natural gas from Russia, the price for which is slightly lower. In April, the prepayment amounted to $ 90 million, in May it was already $ 40 million. Since the beginning of the year Ukraine pumped into the underground storage facilities about 1 billion m3 of natural gas. Compared to the previous year, the transit of natural gas from Russia to Europe reduced by almost a third.
    Naftogaz increased the amount of the claim to "Gazprom" in the Stockholm arbitration to $ 16 billion. The response claim of "Gazprom" is for $ 23.8 billion.
  • Between the days off the official hryvnia exchange rate changed only slightly: 21.13 UAH/USD, 23.49 UAH/EUR (-0,21 UAH), 4.08 UAH /10 RUR  (-0.05)UAH.

Ukraine at War

  • As a result of shelling of Ukrainian troops positions three Ukrainian soldiers wounded. Fighting does not stop in Shyrokine. Avdiyivka, Peski, Opytne were under the shelling from the heavy artillery, placed by the militants in residential areas of Donetsk and Makeyevka. Settlements in the Lugansk region also were under shelling.
  • In Donetsk and Lugansk militants are getting ready for the "Victory Parade" on May 9th. Under the guise of parade preparations they regroup military units and transfer the reserves.
  • The militants leaders of the LPR and DPR refused to visit the meeting of the contact group in Minsk, scheduled for May 6. Instead their "authorized representatives" will participate in the contact group meeting.
  • The Cabinet updated the list of settlements located on the territory, uncontrolled by Ukraine, and on the fighting line.
  • The Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Nalyvaychenko promised  to reorganize the pass entry system in the Anti-Terrorist Operation area, which is the source of numerous corrupt violations, in the closest time.

Ukraine and the World

  • According to Reuters, the EU did not support Russia's demand to postpone the introduction of a free trade zone with Ukraine on January 1, 2016. The decision will be announced at the Eastern Partnership summit in Riga on May 21-22.
  • Moscow court prolonged the detention of the Ukrainian deputy Savchenko for the investigation period - until November 13. Russian authorities are illegally holding Savchenko in prison on the charge of murder of Russian journalists in the Lugansk region. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry is outraged by the decision of the Investigation Department of the Russian Federation and requires the immediate implementation of the  Minsk agreement involving the exchange of prisoners under the principle "all for all".

The Trends


  • The latest appointments in the government and loud statements of politicians indicate that the local elections campaign began.  President Poroshenko puts the people from his entourage and his political force to key positions, in particular, the new Head of the Fiscal Service is a deputy from the "Poroshenko Blok" in the Verkhovna Rada. So far, there is no reaction from politicians regarding the loud statements of the oligarch Firtash during the hearing of the case on his extradition to the United States in the Vienna court on Apri 30 .

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