Excerpts from the most important news on Ukraine
Farmland market may boost Ukraine’s GDP by 1-2 percentage points in 2021
26.09.2019
The launch of a farmland market will boost Ukraine’s GDP growth by 1-2 percentage points in 2021, and by 3-3.5 percentage points each year through the mid-2020s, Economy Minister Milovanov predicts on Savik Shuster’s Freedom of Speech program.More than 1,000 foreign-controlled farming companies already cultivate about 5% of Ukraine’s farmland, Economy Minister Milovanov said on Shuster’s ICTV program.The government plans to start the land market after next year’s harvest, on Oct. 1, 2020.Ukraine intends to allow European companies to buy gas from russia at the eastern border
24.09.2019
By the end of this year, Ukraine intends to have in place EU-standard legislation that will allow European companies to buy gas from russia at Ukraine’s eastern border.“By the end of this year, all the necessary changes can be made,” Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev told reporters in Brussels. With talks set to resume Oct. 20, Ukraine and the EU are pushing russia for a 10-year contract with Ukraine’s new pipeline company, stipulating a minimum flow of 60 billion cubic ...Biopharma opened fractionator plant in Bila Tserkva
24.09.2019
After four years and $75 million in investment, Biopharma, a manufacturer of blood preparations, opened Friday a German-designed fractionator plant in Bila Tserkva, 100 km south of Kyiv, repots the company.Part of Biopharma’s ambition to become one of the world’s top five blood producers, the EU-equipped plants is capable of processing up to 1 million liters of plasma a year.Investors include Vasily Khmelnitsky, Horizon Capital, and Western NIS.Major brands are funding disinformation domains
24.09.2019
The GDI estimates that a quarter billion dollars (US$235 million) is paid annually to our database of 20,000 disinformation sites by ad tech companies placing adverts for many well-known brands. These brands include household names that many of us know: Audi and Honda, American Airlines and OfficeMax, among others. The sites in our sample include www.addictinginfo.com, www.rt.com, www.twitchy.com and www.zerohedge.com.This happens because much of online advertising is now placed “programmatically” (i.e. by computers). Every time we load a web page ...Zelensky failed to understand what he faces
24.09.2019
The russians may have just released a few prisoners of war, but Ukraine’s odious oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky has been taking no prisoners. This was predictable, writes Diane Francis for Atlantic Council.According to her, president Volodymyr Zelensky has failed to understand that he faces a two-front war and has tolerated Kolomoisky.In the meantime, Kolomoisky has launched hundreds of lawsuits against Ukraine, harassed the National Bank of Ukraine and threatened its former chairman Valeria Gontareva.Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU grew by 34.3%
24.09.2019
Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU grew by 34.3% year-on-year during the first seven months of 2019 to reach a new record total of USD 4.1 billion as the country underlined its status as a key food supplier to European markets, The Business Week reports.Key exports during the period included cereals (USD 1.8 billion), vegetable oils (USD 922 million), oilseeds (USD 385 million), and poultry (USD 117 million).The leading EU destination for Ukrainian agricultural imports was the Netherlands (18%), followed ...russia is accused of manipulating drug test data, again
24.09.2019
russian athletes could face suspension from the 2020 Olympics which will take place in Tokyo because data from its moscow anti-doping laboratory is suspected to have been tampered with, The Telegraph reports.WADA believes that moscow has been manipulating the test results for the past 18 months. “Over the next two months new evidence may be presented of forgery regarding doping tests, which could lead to the exclusion of russian athletes being able to participate in the Olympics,” the article says.This would ...NATO membership remains Ukraine’s priority
22.09.2019
Full membership in the EU and NATO remains a priority for Ukraine, Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko has stated, Ukrinform reports.According to him, the current government does not withdraw the issue of Membership Action Plan (MAP) from the agenda. “There all the necessary formal mechanisms – if you need MAP, okay, let it be MAP. We will apply for it when we are ready to get a positive answer, and when Ukraine is ready to do it,” the minister said in an interview with Hromadske.“My personal position is ...moscow uses “sham” NGOs to promote russian Crimea claims
21.09.2019
The United States has accused moscow of using “sham organizations” to promote its “spurious claim” that Ukraine’s Crimea region is part of russia during an annual human rights conference of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), writes rferl.org.russia attempted to “exploit civil-society registration procedures” at the OSCE’s Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM) in Warsaw by “flooding the zone” with “government-supported ‘nongovernmental’ organizations’,” the U.S. mission to the 57-member organization said in statement on September 18.These organizations “attempted ...New attack against former NBU chief
18.09.2019
The harassment of the former chief of Ukraine’s National Bank, who has cleaned up the ailing banking sector, continues.The house of Valeria Gontareva near Kyiv was set on fire in an apparent arson attack. “This is a complete and final mess! I don’t know where to turn, terror continues,” she told the journalists.Gontareva was hit by a car in London at the end of August and earlier that month a car registered to her daughter-in-law was set on fire ...IMF will not tolerate denationalization of PrivatBank
18.09.2019
Is PrivatBank “too big to reverse” its nationalization? Many believe that the answer is “Yes”. Because it appears to be most certain that the International Monetary Fund will freeze its aid in this case scenario.“The IMF and other partners of Ukraine are unlikely to tolerate other “compromises,” in our view. So far, we do not see a simple solution to the Privatbank case that could satisfy both the former owners and IFIs,” – writes Head of Research at Concorde Capital ...Government cancels tender results awarding offshore gas production rights to US-based company
16.09.2019
Ukraine’s government has canceled a decision to grant a right to a US-based energy investment company Trident Acquisitions to produce gas from Ukraine’s offshore Dolphin block on the Black Sea’s continental shelf.“We canceled the decision, said the new energy minister Oleksiy Orzhel, reversing the July 26th tender results when Trident Acquisitions, led by former russian MP Ilya Ponomarev, won the right to explore and extract natural gas from Ukraine’s offshore shelf.Four companies had previously applied for the competition. Among them ...
