Новости за 22.12.2017

Families of Ukrainian national whom Russia holds in captivity as political prisoners were picketing the Russian Embassy in Ukraine, rallying against the celebration on the embassy’s premises of the Day of the Russian FSB Security Service on Dec.22. Read more here.

BERLIN – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Dec.22 that he would work to implement a rapid exchange of prisoners held on both sides of the line of conflict in eastern Ukraine, a spokesman for Merkel said. Read more here.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin and his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel will pay a joint visit to eastern Ukraine, the area suffering from Russian aggression, according to Ukraine’s top diplomat. Read more here.

The Netherlands is ready to receive the ex-president of Georgia and the former head of Odesa Regional State Administration Mikheil Saakashvili, if he leaves Ukraine. This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Halbe Zijlstra, reports Deutsche Welle. Read more here.

Russia should have the best armed forces in face of the “aggressive” plans of the United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Dec.22. Read more here.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a phone conversation on Dec.22 coordinated positions on a UN peacekeeping force in the occupied part of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. “Petro Poroshenko and Rex Tillerson coordinated positions on a UN peacekeeping mission in the occupied part of Donbas,” the press service of […]

A Ukrainian court has ordered a government official accused of spying for Russia to remain in custody during an investigation. Read more here.

PARIS — Russian television anchor Pavel Lobkov was in the studio getting ready for his show when jarring news flashed across his phone: Some of his most intimate messages had just been published to the web. Read more here.  

ZURICH — The International Olympic Committee said on Dec.22 it had banned 11 Russian athletes for life after they committed doping offences at the 2014 Sochi winter games. Read more here.

Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine is ready to submit the draft law on the Anti-corruption court to the parliament of Ukraine as 112 Ukraine reported. Read more here.

National oil and gas holding Naftogaz of Ukraine will not pay for natural gas, the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom has been supplying to the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas since 2015, as reported by Naftogaz press service, referring to the decision of the Stockholm Arbitration Chamber. Read more here.

A Ukrainian court has ordered a government official accused of spying for Russia to remain in custody during an investigation. Read more here.

NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy will settle up with Russia’s Gazprom following the proceedings in the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce in Feb. after the arbitration court makes a decision on the gas transit contract, Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolev has said. “As for settlements with Gazprom, they will be made in Feb. this year […]

The Austrian village of Semmering was an icon of Alpine tourism. When the ski resort fell on hard times, dubious Ukrainian investors provided hope. But locals are now losing faith. Eugen Theise reports from Semmering. Read more here.

The ‘Naftogaz’ claimed that the company will not pay for the gas that was supplied by the ‘Gazprom’ to the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions as the press service of the ‘Naftogaz’ reported at Facebook. Read more here.

Ukraine has successfully tested its brand new Vilkha missile system, President Poroshenko wrote on Facebook. Read more here.

The Kyiv Court of Appeal on Dec. 22 delayed a hearing on house arrest for ex-Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili until Jan. 3. The court said that the prosecutors had so far failed to submit necessary documents for the hearing. Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has accused Saakashvili of accepting funding from fugitive oligarch Serhiy Kurchenko, an […]

Two days ago, the government looked poised for a significant win in the fight against corruption. A London court had ordered to freeze $2.5 billion worth of assets of former PrivatBank owners Igor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov, with the judge issuing the freeze order one day after the lender filed a complaint against its former […]

Sergey Kusiuk, a former commander of Ukraine’s Berkut riot police that took part in beating and killing activists of the EuroMaidan Revolution, is included into a new sanctions list adopted by the U.S. government on Dec. 21. After the revolution overthrew President Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian government disbanded Berkut and put Kusiuk, who fled Ukraine […]

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has extended a $350 million loan to Ukraine’s largest steel mill, owned by ArcelorMittal, for modernisation and environmental upgrades. Read more here.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin says that the launch of a border security biometric system for foreign citizens and stateless persons as of Jan. 1, 2018, will be followed by the introduction of a system to monitor Russian citizens’ travel across Ukraine, which is now in the pipeline, according to an UNIAN correspondent. Read more here.

The NSC Olimpiyskiy is famous not only as a stadium for football matches and sports events, but also as a venue for great concerts and spectacular shows, presentations, test drives etc. In May 2018, the main arena of Ukraine will host the biggest football match – the Champions League Final. In the meantime, the NSC […]

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed the law of Ukraine on the introduction of amendments to Clause 16, Section VI “Final and Transitional Provisions” of the Budget Code of Ukraine, the press service of the head of state reported on Dec. 22. The law, in particular, introduces amendments that allow the Cabinet of Ministers to […]

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, who’s labored for years under the title of Europe’s last dictator, is making a bid for a shiny new image as the continent’s freewheeling cryptocurrency king. Read more here.

The Kyiv Court of Appeals has postponed hearings on the appeal filed by the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office for the review of a Kyiv Pechersky District Court verdict on a preventive measure for former Georgian president, now leader of the “Movement of New Forces” Party in Ukraine Mikheil Saakashvili, according to the Ukrainian news outlet InfoResist. […]