Excerpts from the most important news on Ukraine
Standard Chartered fined for violating sanctions against russia
03.04.2020
U.K. authorities have fined Standard Chartered PLC for violating sanctions imposed on russia following its annexation of the Crimea in 2014, the WSJ reports.The British bank must pay $25.41 million for violating the EU’s sanctions against russia, the U.K. Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said in a decision published Tuesday. The fine is the largest imposed yet by the agency, which was created in 2016.The penalty is the consequence of a series of loans Standard Chartered made to a Turkish bank ...Ukraine and India agreed to protect citizens who cannot return home due to pandemic
02.04.2020
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Indian Ambassador to Ukraine Partha Satpathy have agreed to protect the citizens of both countries who cannot return home due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s press service has reported.“The sides noted a high level of bilateral cooperation in assistance to the citizens of both countries amid the pandemic. They agreed that India would help protect the interests of Ukrainian citizens who cannot leave their territory. Ukraine, in turn, will provide such ...Ukraine’s Eurobonds rallied on news of approaching IMF deal
02.04.2020
Ukraine’s Eurobonds and GDP warrants rallied sharply on news of Rada approvals of bills seen as clearing the way to an IMF deal. GDP warrants jumped 11.6% Tuesday, to 74.8% of face value. Yields on Eurobonds of varying maturities fell an average of 120 basis points, to a new range of 8.5% to 9.9%.As reported earlier, Ukraine was negotiating an emergency package from IMF due to coronavirus pandemicChina Merchants is paying $1 billion to buy into the Odesa container terminal
31.03.2020
China Merchants Port Holdings is buying a minority stake in Odesa Port’s container terminal, Brooklyn – Kiev Port LLC, ubn.news reports.A unit of a Chinese state company, China Merchants is paying $1 billion to buy into the Odesa container terminal and nine other container terminals worldwide, reports the Center for Transportation Strategies.The seller, Rodolphe Saadé, CEO of the CMA CGM Group of Marseilles, says: “Given the high uncertainty caused by the coronavirus crisis, the closure of this transaction, as announced ...Washington urges European Union to impose sanctions on russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin
28.03.2020
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives have urged the European Union to impose sanctions on russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, writes the WSJ.In a letter to the EU’s ambassador to the U.S., the bipartisan group of lawmakers said Mr. Prigozhin has been serving as an agent for the kremlin acting primarily through the Wagner Group, a russian security company, and Internet Research Agency LLC.Mr. Prigozhin and IRA were indicted in 2018 on charges of engaging in a widespread effort to interfere ...putin prohibits Ukrainians to own their land in Crimea
27.03.2020
Six years after illegally invading and annexing Crimea, russia is to prohibit Ukrainians from owning their own land. russian President Vladimir putin’s decree, dated 20 March 2020, prevents those he calls “foreigners” from owning land in most parts of the occupied peninsula. This effectively strips Crimean Tatars and other Ukrainians who have not taken russian citizenship of their land rights, khpg.org reports.The decree makes amendments to a list of “coastal territories” which “foreign nationals, stateless persons and foreign legal entities” cannot have ...Ukraine’s new IFV passes initial stage trial
25.03.2020
Ukraine’s new Otaman 6×6 infantry fighting vehicle has completed one of the initial trial stages in off-road tests. The amphibious 23-tonne vehicle can run at a max speed of 110 km/h, with a max cruising range of 800 km, Defense Express reports.Otaman 6×6 boasts of the enhanced armor, NATO-standard mine protection system, a large reserve of load capacity (to install additional composite armor and heavy equipment, such as a combat module), modularity, maximum mobility, and a high degree of digitization. ...Coronavirus will cause global recession as bad as during the global financial crisis – IMF
25.03.2020
IMF predicts a global recession at least as bad as during the global financial crisis or worse. “The economic impact is and will be severe, but the faster the virus stops, the quicker and stronger the recovery will be,” said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.At the same time, according to Jose Angel Gurria, Secretary-General of the OECD. Losses from the coronavirus pandemic have already exceeded the damage from the global financial crises of 2008 and of the September 11 2001 ...EU states failed to introduce financial transparency
23.03.2020
Most EU member states have failed to meet a legal deadline to introduce public registers of the real owners of companies, a transparency measure seen as key to fighting money laundering, according to a review by anti-corruption campaigners, the Guardian reports.In May 2018, the European Union passed a directive obliging member states to publish the beneficial owners of firms registered in their jurisdictions by January this year.Two months after the deadline and two years after governments were told to get new ...Ukraine is negotiating an emergency package from IMF due to coronavirus pandemic
23.03.2020
Ukraine is negotiating an emergency package from the IMF to contain the economic fallout from coronavirus, Yakiv Smoliy, governor of the National Bank of Ukraine.He said it is too early to say how large the aid would be. Conditions would be separate from the $5.5 billion deal agreed last December.The central bank sold $2 billion in foreign exchange in the last two weeks, limiting the hryvnia devaluation to 11%. Currently reserves are $24 billion, reports the National Bank of Ukraine.Deputy chief of staff to Volodymyr Zelensky finds himself amidst corruption probe
21.03.2020
Volodymyr ZelenskyThe deputy chief of staff to the Ukrainian president Andriy Smyrnov is now under investigation for his involvement in the escape of a judge, who had been caught taking a bribe, from the country in 2016, Slidstvo.info reports.In one of the country’s highest profile corruption cases, Mykola Chaus was caught accepting US$150,000 but managed to flee to neighboring Moldova before he could be arrested. In a leaked document procured by Slidstvo, Smyrnov’s name appears as one of many people who may ...Ukraine’s economy can shrink by -1.6% in the first quarter due to coronavirus
18.03.2020
If the coronavirus restrictions “are not prolonged” Ukraine’s economy will shrink by -1.6% in the first quarter and will end the year with 1.9% growth, estimates Adamant Capital.“We expect it take a substantial toll on the economy. Domestic trade, education, transportation, hotel and restaurant services, and entertainment are likely to be among the larger sufferers, though spillover effects to other sectors (such to finance and real estate) are likely,” the Kyiv-based investment house reported Tuesday.Last year’s growth is estimated ...
