11/30/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - UN summit on climate change was held in Paris

UN summit on climate change was held in Paris

11.30.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• UN summit on climate change was held in Paris.
• "Cyborg" (Donetsk Airport defender) Rahman was released from captivity by the militants.
• The court rejected the prosecutor's office application for remand in custody for one of the leaders of the Party of Regions Efremov.
• The anti-corruption prosecutor was appointed.

Key Events in Ukraine

• Attorney General Shokin appointed anti-corruption prosecutor the deputy prosecutor of Crimea Holodnytskyi and approved the structure and the composition of the inspectorate for internal investigations and security.
• The scandal with the elections in Kryvyi Rih continues. Six heads of the district election commissions were removed from office for violations during the electoral process established by the Court of Appeal. Vote recount will be held at six special electoral districts.
• The court rejected the prosecutor's office application for remand in custody for the former members of the Party of Regions of Efremov, Stoyan and Hordiyenko who voted for the "dictator laws" of the former president Yanukovych.
• The Ministry of Finance published the main indicators of the next year's budget. It provides for the minimum wage increase to UAH1550 and the minimum subsistence level increase to UAH1496 (about $70 a month). The draft establishes budget deficit of not more than UAH 84 billion (3.7% of GDP) and the hryvnia exchange rate of 22.4 UAH/USD.
• The National Bank announced that the procedure for automatic seizure of bank accounts agreed in the memorandum with the IMF will be introduced before the end of 2016.
• The official hryvnia exchange rate slightly decreased: 23.95 ₴/$ (+0.06 UAH), 25.33 ₴/€ (+0.06 UAH), 3.58 ₴/10 ₽ (-0.02 UAH).

Ukraine at War

• According to the Antiterrorist Operation Headquarters, militants continue firing at the Ukrainian army positions and Ukrainian settlements. No casualties were reported among the military. А "Cyborg" with codename "Rahman" was recovered from captivity in exchange for a Russian officer.
• The OSCE monitoring mission is ready to open more bases in the occupied Donbas once it receives security guarantees from the militants.
• Ukrenergo has completed repair work on one of the power transmission lines leading to Crimea. To resume the power supplies to the peninsula, an agreement with the activists has to be reached. The contract for the supply of electricity to Crimea does not provide for a shutdown in case of damage to power towers, so Ukraine is not going to pay penalties. Crimea occupation authorities are cutting down electricity consumption in Crimean cities.

Ukraine and the World

• UN Climate Conference was held in Paris. It drew public attention not only by the speeches of the world leaders, but also by their meetings оn the margins. Russian President Putin was late for the beginning of the summit.
  President Poroshenko urged to extend sanctions against Russia because of its failure to comply with the Minsk agreements. President of the European Council Tusk agreed with the need to agree to the extension of sanctions. President Obama demanded from Putin the unconditional implementation of the agreements.
• Since the beginning of the year, the turnover of agro-industrial products between Ukraine and Russia fell by almost 70%. Russia plans to limit the supply of products from Turkey after President Erdogan refused to apologize for the downed bomber. Ukraine is ready to double its supplies to Turkey of grain, corn and sunflower oil to replace Russia in this market segment. President Poroshenko plans to visit Turkey early next year and expects a breakthrough in bilateral agreements.
• Russian President Putin instructed the government to ensure the status of combat veterans is granted to the Russian personnel fighting in Turkey.
• Russia's Prosecutor General has declared the Open Society Institute, also known as the Soros Foundation, “undesirable.”
• IMF included the yuan in the basket of reserve currencies, which would make the Chinese market more attractive to investors. The Chinese government announced that the yuan will become a freely convertible currency by 2020.
• NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg said that the Alliance would update its strategy to fight a hybrid war and strengthen its support for Ukraine. He said that all NATO countries support Turkey's right to defend its airspace.

The Trends

• According to experts, the increase in excise duties on tobacco products will not result in additional revenues, as the companies will seek to maintain sales by reducing the selling prices for tobacco products. Establishing a minimum retail price for a pack would allow for limiting manufacturers’ manipulations and decreasing consumption. On the other hand, market participants point out that this would inevitably result in the emergence of a black market for tobacco products and in budget losses from smuggling.
• At Minsk talks, the major controversy is the elections in the occupied territories. The Ukrainian side maintains that they can only take place after the complete demilitarization of the territory and subject to the guarantees provided to the participants of the electoral process. In addition, the Ukrainian negotiators insist on the participation in local elections of 1.5 million internally displaced persons. Militants and Russia insist that holding the elections is the first provision of the Minsk Agreements, to comply with which Ukraine needs to amend its Constitution and electoral law. They say that access to the border and the demilitarization will only by possible after the elections.
• The trade war between Russia and Turkey gives Ukraine a unique chance to take the niche and to sharply increase its grain exports, diversifying its export markets for agricultural products and reducing losses from the sanctions against Ukrainian products that Russia plans to introduce on January 1, 2016.