Новости за 30.12.2015

French actor Gerard Depardieu is to play Russian dictator Josef Stalin in a new film, according to reports.

PARIS - The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France are discussing elections in eastern Ukraine and want a lasting cease-fire that could bring the Ukraine conflict to an end in 2016.

Kyiv says it will approve a ban on the import of some Russian goods in response to similar actions by Moscow.

As war continues in Eastern Ukraine, leaders from Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany agreed on Dec. 30 to extend the Minsk II agreement into 2016 in the hope that the peace deal will lead to an end in the conflict that has left over 9,000 people dead.

Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has adopted two resolutions to ban imports of Russian goods starting from Jan.10, 2016 and introduce importation duties from Jan. 2, Ukrainian Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Nataliya Mykolska said.

Head of Odesa Regional State Administration Mikheil Saakashvili has visited Istanbul (Turkey) at the invitation of City Mayor Kadir Topbas and during the visit discussed the possibility of disclosing the investment potential of the Ukrainian region for Turkish businesses.

PARIS - The leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine renewed their support for a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine on Dec. 30 following phone discussions, the French presidency said in a statement.

Foreign Ministers of "Normandy Four" (Ukraine, Germany, France, and the Russian Federation) will hold a meeting in January 2016.

The Ukrainian government is suggesting that power outages that have intermittently plagued the country over the past year can be blamed on hackers supported by the Russian government. It's a serious allegation that, if true, would include the power outages in a small handful of infrastructure failures known to be caused by nation-state attackers.

The Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers has made a decision to impose a moratorium on the payment of the $3 billion debt to Russia, which was taken at the time when the country was led by former president Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said.

When Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet in November 2015, the image of the falling plane went viral. Calls for revenge exploded across the Russian media and internet.

The holiday market in the central square of Donetsk, the principal city of rebel-held eastern Ukraine, has all the trappings of a celebratory time — shiny ornaments, colorful toys and a cartoon-faced kiddie train on a meandering track. But the aura is more forced than festive, as the region's people face a new year that gives little promise.

Leaders of the Norman Four (Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia) in a telephone conversation on Dec. 30 agreed on the need for a full ceasefire in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's press service reported.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Ukraine has imposed a ban on the import of some goods from Russia and has imposed an import duty on Russian goods.

Legendary Crimean winemaker Massandra, once a supplier to Russia's Tsar Nicolas II, has provoked the ire of Kyiv by putting 13,000 vintage bottles up for auction on Dec. 30.

Editor’s Note: Kyiv public relations specialist Zhanna Kobylinska's “Good News Ukraine” blog sticks to uplifting news and steers clear of controversy.

The Finance Ministry of Ukraine has expressed hope that assets in the form of government domestic loan bonds and payments on them worth some $1.4 billion arrested on the accounts of former Ukrainian authorities will be seized and included in the special fund of the national budget, Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko has said.

In many ways, 2015 was a sequel to 2014. If Russia went rogue last year, this year it was forced to come to grips with the cost of that course.

Two years have passed since the mass shootings on Feb. 20, 2014, when more than 100 EuroMaidan Revolution protesters were killed. Those who were responsible have still not been put on trial, bolstering claims that the government is incapable of prosecuting the killers.

Ukraine plans to continue talks with Russia in January over a $3 billion Eurobond which Kyiv said it would not repay, Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko said on Dec. 30.

The top managers of the Massandra national industrial and agrarian association of wine (Yalta) will be punished for the destruction of the collection of unique wine, an advisor to the Agricultural Policy and Food Minister of Ukraine Oleksandr Liyev has said.

The situation in the war-torn zone remains complicated, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's main intelligence department said.

Russia exported over $15 billion worth of arms in 2015 and plans to sell similar volumes of military equipment in 2016, an official from the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation reportedly told Ria Novosti on Dec. 30. The sales figures come despite several economic sanctions against Russian companies by Western powers over the Ukraine conflict.

Ukraine said on Dec. 30 it had doubts that the International Monetary Fund would approve all changes adopted by parliament in the 2016 state budget, a condition to secure the next tranche of financial aid.

Ukraine's government will continue to consult the Verkhovna Rada on the adoption of laws that ensure large-scale privatization, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said.