Excerpts from the most important news on Ukraine
Ukrenergo is to invest €357 mln to synchronize Ukraine’s electricity supply system with ENTSO-E
02.07.2019
Over the next three years, Ukrenergo is to invest €357 million to synchronize Ukraine’s electricity supply system with ENTSO-E, the European Network of System Operators of Transmission of Electricity.Ivanna Klimpush-Tsintsadze, deputy prime minister for European integration, told a conference last month that 40% of this money is to come from foreign sources: the EU, the US, the World Bank, the European Investment Bank, and KfW, Germany’s development bank.Compliant with the EU’s Third Energy Package, the new energy laws ...Austrian court allowed US extradition of Ukrainian tycoon Firtash
25.06.2019
Austria’s Supreme Court has upheld a decision allowing a request by the United States to extradite Ukrainian tycoon Dmytro Firtash, the latest twist in the case for the oligarch who has been fighting against extradition since his 2014 arrest in Vienna, rferl.org reports.Following the court ruling on June 25, a final decision will be made by the country’s justice minister on whether to follow through with the request.Firtash’s Austrian lawyer and spokesman declined immediate comment after the ruling.U.S. authorities have been investigating ...PACE allowed russia to return
25.06.2019
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has adopted a resolution and introduced amendments to the regulations, which may complicate or block the imposition of sanctions on the russian delegation and ensure its return to the Assembly without fulfilling international obligations, Ukrinform reports.Following almost nine-hour debate, the resolution was backed by 118 delegates, 62 were against and 10 abstained, according to own Ukrinform correspondent.The Assembly did not support any of more than 200 amendments introduced mostly by ...Deutsche Bank faces US money-laundering investigation
23.06.2019
Federal authorities are investigating whether Deutsche Bank complied with laws meant to stop money laundering and other crimes, the latest government examination of potential misconduct at one of the world’s largest and most troubled banks, according to seven people familiar with the inquiry, reports The New York Times.The criminal investigation into Deutsche Bank is one element of several separate but overlapping government examinations into how illicit funds flow through the American financial system, said five of the people, who were ...Ukrainian Women Unite Online Against Zelensky`s Branding
22.06.2019
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky inserted foot firmly in mouth during his presidential tour of Europe this week when he said his nation’s women were “beautiful” and served as a good tourism “brand” for the country, writes RFE/RL.He returned to a Twitter firestorm, after Ukrainian women made their disappointment with the comedian-turned-president clear with a raft of posts under the social-media hashtags #янетуристичнийбренд (#Iamnotyourtourismbrand) and #янебренд (#Iamnotyourbrand).“I am disgusted that the president of Ukraine would allow himself to talk about the ...russia is losing $30 bln a year due to the occupation of Crimea
20.06.2019
russia is losing at least $30 billion every year due to the investment climate that has followed its annexation of Crimea, economist Sergei Guriev said in an interview published Monday.russia’s 2014 annexation of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine has weakened russia’s relations with the West, launching multiple rounds of sanctions from the U.S. and the EU as well as a drop in foreign investment.NEWSEach percentage point that doesn’t go into GDP growth equals a loss of $15 billion, Guriev ...Europol: Huge inflows of criminal money are mainly coming into Europe from russia and China
18.06.2019
Europe’s Baltic states are at risk from further russian money laundering, a top European police official said after several big banks were hit by scandals centered on the region.Pedro Felicio, who is responsible for fighting money laundering at European police agency Europol, told Reuters that “huge inflows of criminal money” are mainly coming into Europe from russia and China.russian money is alleged to be at the heart of multi-billion dollar laundering rackets that engulfed Danske Bank, Denmark’s largest lender and ...Facebook doubles ad spending to boost reputation
16.06.2019
Facebook said it has boosted its advertising spending to increase its reputation amid privacy controversies, censorship of conservatives and alternative voices, and antitrust investigations according to a report released Friday.Antonio Lucio, Facebook’s marketing chief, said that it could more than double the social media giant’s advertising spending and include more advertising agencies to advertise for WhatsApp and Instagram. Facebook reportedly spent $382 million on ads in the last year, which is up $50 million from 2017.Lucio said that the organization’s reputation has ...Ukraine issued eurobonds worth €1 bln
15.06.2019
The Finance Ministry of Ukraine issued eurobonds worth EUR 1 billion.“It’s a return to the market in euro after a 15-year break. It is a strategic placement for Ukraine responding to European integration, growth in exports to the European Union, and a significant increase in inflows and outflows precisely in euro,” Ukrainian Finance Minister Oksana Markarova wrote on Facebook.The eurobonds were issued with a seven-year maturity period and a yield of 6.75% per annum. According to ubn.news, BNP Paribas and ...Boryspil International Airport serviced 5.2 million people during 5 months
15.06.2019
Ukraine’s principle air hub Boryspil remains on strong passenger growth trajectory, writes UkraineInvest Chairman Daniel Bilak.Boryspil International Airport serviced 5.2 million people during the first five months of 2019, representing an 18.1% year-on-year increase. Around 90% of these passengers, or 4.76 million people, travelled on international flights. The monthly growth rate for May was slightly above the five-month period at 20.5% year-on-year.These figures place Ukraine’s principle air hub comfortably on track to surpass 2018’s record of 12.6 million passengers. ...PrivatBank shed more than $300 million after nationalization ruled illegal
13.06.2019
Ukraine’s PrivatBank shed more than $300 million of deposits after a Kiev court ruled in April that the nationalization of the country’s largest lender was illegal, the bank’s finance chief said on Tuesday, CNBC reports.PrivatBank was nationalized as part of a clean-up of the banking system backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and wrested the lender from Ukrainian tycoon and co-founder Ihor Kolomoisky in December 2016.Ukraine’s central bank has appealed against the Kiev court’s ruling, seeking to overturn a ...FlixBus starts operating across Ukraine
12.06.2019
European transport operator FlixBus announced its entry into the Ukrainian market.According to UkraineInvest, FlixBus launched first routes to the EU from four Ukrainian cities in 2017, and now company plans to start passenger transportation across Ukraine from Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa, Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Vinnytsia, and Ternopil in 2019.As reported, Ryanair and Wizz Air launch new flights from Ukraine to Polish and German cities.
