Ukrainian media review on February 05, 2015

Results of Merkel and Holland’s meeting first with Petro Poroshenko and then with Vladimir Putin will be the focus of public attention this week. Western leaders started actively dealing with Ukrainian issue. Head of German Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in Warsaw that Europe had a new plan on saving Ukraine, though it is not known yet what provisions it contains. Russian media have already written, referring to various sources, that Holland and Merkel suggested Petro Poroshenko should revise the line of demarcation in Donbas, abandon the idea of joining NATO and agree with actual federalization of the country. The USA evaluates the EU leaders’ initiatives “altogether positively”, making a point that Ukraine should not count on American weapons so far. Kerry did not answer the question whether the USA agrees to supply Ukraine with weapons yesterday, saying that Barak Obama was going to handle this issue the following week.

According to The New York Times’ sources, the President of Russia Vladimir Putin offered the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the President of France Francois Holland a road map on creating a new “Trans-Dniester region” in Ukraine.

 

WAR. ACTIONS IN THE ATO ZONE.

Representatives of self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” state they made an agreement with Kyiv to cease hostilities in full since 09:00 am, February 6 in order to take civilians out of Debaltseve. Pro-Russian terrorists shelled outskirts of Dzerzhinsk in Donetsk region using artillery. A civilian was wounded with shell fragment. Two residential buildings were demolished. OSCE mission patrol has been attacked with mortar fire on the territory controlled by the LPR terrorists, the mission report says.

Intelligence reports that terrorists and Russian mercenaries, trying to spread panic among civilians in Donbas, are circulating information on massive shelling of Mariupol they plan to deliver on February 5-6. The situation in Uglegorsk in Donetsk region where serious fighting between ATO forces and Russian-terrorist troops took place in the past days has not changed much. The town is partially controlled by Ukrainian troops and partially by militants.

PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF THE CRISIS.

The President of France Francois Holland stated at his press-conference that France does not want Ukraine to join the North Atlantic Alliance. According to him, no one wants war in Ukraine and the conflict in Donbas is to be resolved through diplomacy and politics. As previously reported, Francois Holland and the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel will come to Kyiv on February 5 to meet the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. It is planned to discuss proposals on settlement of the conflict in the east of Ukraine. The Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Lubomir Zaoralek stated that potential supply or arms from the Western countries to Ukraine is playing with fire. The President of the USA Barak Obama is reconsidering his decision not to supply Ukraine with weapons. It was the statement made by the Secretary of the State John Kerry, reported a journalist Myroslava Gongadze. NATO can not supply Ukraine with weapons as it possesses none, every Alliance member is to make an independent decision on the issue.

The President of France Francois Holland and the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel may suggest Moscow and Kyiv freezing the conflict in the east of Ukraine, Interfax agency informs referring to its source close to the contact group on peaceful settlement of the situation in Donbas. “Most likely, Holland and Merkel are going to suggest the simplest, from Europe’s point of view, way out. It looks like their plan is based on giving Donbas a so-called undefined status, i.e., most likely Europe aims at Trans-Dniester scenario of regulation. In point of fact, it is conflict freeze“, – the source said.

Moscow stated they would touch on an issue  of sending the UN peacemakers to the east of Ukraine at the meeting of the presidents of Russia, France and Germany which will take place on Friday.

The West should arm Ukraine, otherwise violence will continue, the Chairman of the Munich Security Conference Wolfgang Ischinger and the director of the Conference for policy and analytics Tobias Bunde  writein their article for The Financial Times.

 

ACTIVITYOFTHEPARLIAMENT. FORMATIONOFTHEGOVERNMENT.

On February 5 Verkhovna Rada passed a resolution on cancellation of the deputies’ immunity. The resolution No. 1776/П1 was supported by 365 deputies. One deputy, Vadim Rabinovich, voted against. It is necessary to amend the Constitution in order to cancel the immunity. The procedure envisages passing the bill draft in a first reading, and then it is sent to the Constitutional Court. It is possible to vote on the bill draft as a whole only at the next session.

The LB web-site informs that the people’s deputies failed to collect sufficient number of signatures in support of resolution on dismissal of the Prosecutor-General, Vitaliy Yarema.

Media write that on January 28 a deputy Viktor Romanyuk registered the third in a row bill draft on casino activity (No.1869), which is verbatim repetition of a bill draft No.1571 found “lobbying and containing corruption components” earlier.

Former chief of “Aidar” battalion, people’s deputy Serhiy Melnychuk has been expelled from Oleh Lyashko’s Radical Party faction.

REFORMS.

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine appointed Ruslan Korzh a Deputy Minister of Trade on February 4, press-service of the Ministry reports. According to the press-service, Korzh is a managing CIS partner for A.T.Kearney international consulting company.

The USA is ready to provide Ukraine with another credit guarantee of 1 billion dollars in case reforms implementation succeeds.

SITUATION IN DONBAS.

The USA Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed his country’s readiness to allocate 16 million dollars of urgent aid for inhabitants of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. It was the statement he made at his press-conference in Kyiv.

THE STATE AND THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL GROUPS. ATTEMPTS OF REDISTRIBUTION OF THE ECONOMY.

State Property Fund of Ukraine finished privatization of Illichivsk ship-repair yard in Odesa region, having sold 22% of state-owned stake of this enterprise. Waysell Holdings company from Cyprus bought them at a price slightly exceeding 100 million hryvnia. This company is associated with the deputy Ivan Fursin and Odesa businessmen Mykhaylo Rafaevich and Oleksiy Pochykovskyi, the last two belonging to the inner circle of Valeriy Khmelnyuk – irreplaceable mayor of Illichivsk since 2002.

The EU Council found no reasons to reconsider sanctions introduced earlier against the deputy Serhiy Kluev who is the brother of former president’s administration, Andriy Kluev, thus they remain in force, says the letter of the EU Council.

The situation around elections of the president of the Football Federation of Ukraine is very interesting. Another nominee joined the registered candidates (Yaroslav Hrysyo, Andriy Pavelko and some other candidates who voiced their intentions to stand for a post of the chairman of the organization). Owner of “Dnipro” football team and head of Dnipropetrovsk regional state administration Ihor Kolomoyskyi decided to propose himself as a candidate.