Day: January 15, 2019

Interview with Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, Leading Researcher of the H. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

The cargo ship VOLGO-BALT 214, which was transporting coal from the Russian port of Azov to the Turkish port of Samsun, sank off the coast of Turkey. There is an assumption that Azov is used for the illegal export of coal from the territory of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic controlled by Russia. Until the summer of 2017, the ship was under the Russian flag, then replaced it for 2 months with the flag of the State of Saint Kitts and Nevis, and later — in August 2017 — with the flag of Panama.

January 5, at St. George’s Cathedral in Phanar after the joint worship of Patriarch Bartholomew and the Head of the OCU Epifaniy, a procedure for the signing of Tomos was held. On January 6, it was handed over to Epifaniy, and Tomos was solemnly presented on 7^th January in Ukraine. January 9, in Istanbul, Tomos was signed by all the members of the Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Thus, all the procedures have been completed and the leadership of the new church can fully focus on internal affairs of the Church, in particular, on securing the non-conflict transition of parishes, as well as other objects that are in use by the Moscow Patriarchate, from the UOC-MP to the OCU.

December 31, 2018, pre–election campaign of candidates for the Presidential Elections officially began in Ukraine and it will last till February 3. Given the coincidence of the start of the campaign with Christmas holidays, not all candidates have submitted applications to the Central Election Commission, and most of them are waiting for the second half of January to receive more active information support for their candidacies. As of January 15, documents were submitted to the Central Election Commission by 12 candidates, of which five were registered, three were rejected, four are still pending. As candidates for the presidency, member of the Parliament of Ukraine Serhiy Kaplin, former Head of the SBU Valentyn Nalyvaychenko, Mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadovyi, businessman Vitaliy Skotsyk and ex-Minister of Ecology Ihor Shevchenko were registered.

The US EXIM Bank has lifted restrictions on conducting operations with the state and private sector of Ukraine under export lending programs, loan guarantees and export insurance. The Bank’s resumption of work is taking place against the background of stabilization of the macroeconomic situation in Ukraine, due to the launch of a new stand-by program by the IMF at the end of 2018, and the Moody agency’s upgrading Ukraine’s rating to Caa1 from Caa2 (and outlook from “positive” to “stable”). Taking into account the narrow specialization of the EXIM Bank, this step may indicate preparations for the arrival on the Ukrainian market of one of the major American companies.