Новости за 25.09.2015

The only way Russia can be acceptable to the West is to accept vassal status.

Kyiv has announced plans to ban flights by major Russian airlines flying into the Ukraine. Moscow said that it would strike back if the bans were imposed.

The Ukrainian military recorded one shell attack on their positions in Donbas on Sept. 25; overall, the situation remains quiet, the press center for the Ukrainian Anti-Terrorist Operation said on Sept. 25.

The Mejlis, or Crimean Tatar representative assembly could face a ban, making it illegal in the Russian Federation and Russian-occupied Crimea. The threat comes just days after the media in Crimea was informed that the Mejlis does not legally exist and "strongly advised" not to give it any coverage. And after an attempt to have a prominent Crimean Tatar figure taken into custody on spurious charges.

In an eerie readjustment of historical facts, Russia's Ambassador to Venezuela has claimed * that the Soviet Union did not invade Poland on Sept. 17, 1939 and that it was in fact Poland, not the USSR, that collaborated with Nazi Germany. His explanation of how half of what was then Polish sovereign territory came to be under Soviet occupation is disturbingly similar to the arguments presented by Russian President Vladimir Putin as justification for Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

Moscow said Sept. 25 it had offered Kiev a gas price discount that should let the neighbours strike a deal at talks in Brussels on resuming fuel flows for the first time in three months.

Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine announced a ban on almost all foreign and international aid groups working in the region, prompting condemnation in Ukraine and the West.

By all accounts, the conversation that U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin will have in New York is likely to be serious and substantive over issues like Syria and Ukraine.

ODESA - Deputy Finance Minister Artem Shevalev says that it is inappropriate to merge state-owned banks with other large-scale state assets from the production, construction and other sectors into one Ukrholding, as is proposed by the Economic Development and Trade Ministry.

The skies over Eastern Europe just became a little less friendly.

Ukraine announced it will close its airspace to Russian airlines starting Oct. 25 - the latest move in its conflict with Russia over Russia's annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in the east of Ukraine. The ban will have a significant impact on major Russian airlines, including the national carrier, Aeroflot, and Transaero.

The humanitarian situation in Donbas and the work of international humanitarian organizations in east Ukraine will be discussed at a meeting in the 'Normandy format' in Paris on Oct. 2, Ukrainian representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group Iryna Heraschenko said.

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt has said that corruption actors within the Prosecutor General's office openly and aggressively undermine reforms in Ukraine.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk insists that the sanctions imposed by the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) on individuals and entities be enforced immediately.

Editor's Note: The following remarks were delivered by U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey R. Pyatt at the Odesa Financial Forum on Sept. 24 in Hotel Bristol.

Dzerzhynsky district court in Donetsk region has sentenced Russian citizen Vladimir Starkov to 14 years imprisonment along with the confiscation of his property, deputy prosecutor general, chief military prosecutor Anatoliy Matios has announced.

In the more than two decades since independence, Ukraine squandered opportunities provided by its geologic endowment and geographic location to be self-reliant in energy and to contribute to the reliability of energy transit for itself and its neighbors. Its economy is mired in wasteful energy consumption caused by badly targeted subsidies. For at least 10 years, numerous plans for reforming Ukraine’s energy sector formulated by successive governments have not been implemented. The question was never what needs to be done... Читать дальше...

Starting next month, some of Russia’s airlines will not be allowed to fly to Ukraine, the Ministry of Infrastructure announced in a press release statement on its website on Sept. 25.

Ukraine and some of its Western allies condemned on Sept. 25 a decision by pro-Russian separatists to ban most foreign aid organisations from parts of rebel-held territory, saying the move violated the Minsk peace agreement.

In this crucial moment in the economic prosperity of Ukraine, we are combining to support a broad, transparent, and economically sound program of deregulation extending across the economy.

Ukraine banned flights of Aeroflot, Transaero and other Russian airlines to destinations in the country from Oct. 25 as part of new sanctions against the neighbor that the government accuses of aiding separatists.

Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said on Sept. 25 that Russia would be forced to take retaliatory measures after Ukraine banned Russian airlines, the Interfax news agency reported.

BRUSSELS - Ukrainian Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said that the offer by Russia was at least closer to a fair level, refusing to comment further about whether or not he was satisfied with the offer by Russia over the discount for gas.

8, 9 and 10 October 2015 at the Bristol Hotel Odessa

BRUSSELS - The trilateral negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, and the European Commission on conditions of deliveries of Russian gas to Ukraine in the coming heating season have started, an Interfax correspondent reported from the European Commission office.

Global relief organisations voiced outrage and disbelief on Sept. 25 over Ukrainian separatists' decision to ban 10 Western health groups for "grave violations" of local laws.