Prime Minister gives 42 ambulances to Kyiv hospitals

News / 30 December 2009 | 17:17

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko handed over 42 ambulances to district hospitals of Kyiv region. A presentation ceremony was held in Kyiv. Handing over keys to the cars Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said that the Cabinet purchased a thousand automobiles for villages and settlements in the frameworlof the program for rural medicine development.

The Premier said that in January more ambulances are to be handed over to hospitals in other regions of Ukraine.      

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Frozen assets of the director of Elita-Center fraud company to be sent to his victims

News / 30 December 2009 | 15:14

A court will decide whether the frozen assets of Oleksandr Shakhov (Volkonsky), who is suspected of organizing the Elita-Center fraud on Kyiv’s real estate market, will be enough to compensate for the damage caused to the fraud victims, according to Interfax-Ukraine.

Ukrainian Deputy Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka said at a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday that a pre-trial investigation on this case had been completed.

“All the assets of criminals worth a large sum have been frozen… and measures are being taken to compensate for the damage caused to the victims,” he said.

Pshonka said that the sum of the frozen assets “is worth millions of hryvnias.” “The court will decide whether these funds will be enough or not,” he said.

As reported, a large-scale fraud was uncovered on the real estate market in Kyiv early in 2006. About 1,759 citizens were victims of the Elita-Center Group, whose representatives took money from the public as payment for housing that was never built. The total sum stolen from the victims was about UAH 400 million.

On November 1, 2007, a suspect in the fraud case, a man named Oleksandr Volkonsky (whose real name turned out to be Oleksandr Shakhov, born in Russia in 1971) was detained in Switzerland. He was extradited from Switzerland to Ukraine on October 9, 2008.

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Europe hopes for stable oil supplies through Ukraine in New Year

News / 30 December 2009 | 13:03

European Commission expects no risk of disruption of Russian oil supplies to EU through Ukraine, according to the European Commission statement.

“Today, the Russian government has informed the Commission that an agreement with Ukraine on the transit conditions has been found and that no interruption of supplies was foreseen,” the Commission said.

The commission also praised Russia’s use of an early-warning mechanism to prevent another stoppage in oil shipments to the EU as has happened at the New Year in the past. EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said he was glad to note that the Russian and Ukrainian sides have meanwhile found an agreement avoiding a disruption of oil supplies to the EU.

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Ukraine increases rate for Russian oil transit by 30%

News / 30 December 2009 | 11:02

Ukraine and Russia’s oil transport network operators, Ukrtransnafta and Transneft, have agreed on a rise in the rate for the transit of Russian oil via Ukraine in 2010 by 30%, Valentyn Zemliansky, a spokesman for NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine, said on Tuesday.

On December 28 the parties discussed the volumes of the transit of Russian oil to Europe via Ukraine. Further to the agreement for 2010, the volume of transportation via the Druzhba oil pipeline is set at no less than 15 million tons.

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Putin hopes Ukraine will meet its oil transit obligations

News / 29 December 2009 | 17:25

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday he hopes Ukraine will meet its obligation to transit Russian oil to Europe despite a dispute on transit fees, RIA Novosti reported.

“We hope they [obligations] will be fulfilled,” Putin told reporters, commenting on ongoing talks on Ukraine’s demand to increase shipment tariffs.

Slovakia’s government said on Monday that Russia had warned the EU of a possible cutoff of supplies to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary due to transit fee disagreements with Ukraine.

The warning echoed the two-week cutoff of Russian natural gas supplies to the European Union in early January this year amid a price and debt dispute between the two ex-Soviet neighbors.

Ukraine later in the day moved to calm fears, saying the dispute will not affect supplies to Eastern Europe. And Russia’s Energy Ministry said the deal for 2010 will be reached in the next two days.

The ministry said Russia had warned the EU of a possible disruption in line with its obligations of “early warning” about potential energy risks.

Putin said rows with transit nations have undermined Russia’s image as an energy supplier, prompting Moscow to seek alternative pipeline routes. He accused transit nations of blackmailing Russia and illegally re-exporting its energy resources.

Russia had several disputes with Ukraine in winter 2006 and 2009 which affected consumers in Europe. Another ex-Soviet transit nation, Belarus, cut Russian oil supplies to the EU in January 2007 also amid a price row.

Ukraine transits about 80% of Russian gas shipments to the European Union, and itself relies on Russian supplies. Ukraine, like Belarus, is a major transit route for oil pumped to Eastern Europe via the Druzhba pipeline.

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Yushchenko – Cooperation with Yanukovych impossible

News / 29 December 2009 | 15:05

During a TV talk show, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko called it false and provocative the documents given over to the mass media about his possible cooperation with oppositional Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych.

“I will never be a prime minister with Yanukovych… These patterns are of no interest either to me or to my team. It must have been just a fraud,” the presidential press office quoted Yushchenko as saying.

The prosecutor general was ordered to investigate into the situation.

The Voting Day is January 17, 2010, and Viktor Yanukovych is said to have the highest presidential rating.

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Ukraine without electricity and transport

News / 29 December 2009 | 13:03

Electricity supply was halted to 1,077 populated localities in 14 regions as a result of heavy rain, snow falls and squalls last night, the press service of the emergencies ministry reported.

Kyiv was also touched by the natural disaster. Trams traffic is suspended, buses and trolleybusses work with intervals due to bad weather conditions.

Passengers have to walk by sidewalks that remain uncleared from snow. Due to heavy snow falls there are numerous jams observed on the metropolitan roads, most part of vehicles were left in parkings.

At the same time no special machines to clear snow from the roads can be seen in the city. The renewal of the Boryspil international airport’s operation is suspended till 14.00.

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Inflation rate in Ukraine to reach 13-14% by end of 2009

News / 29 December 2009 | 10:40

According to the First Deputy Head of the President’s Secretariat Oleksandr Shlapak, inflation rate in Ukraine will reach approximately 13-14% by end of 2009. He also noted that the inflation index actually coincides with the Secretariat’s forecast made at the beginning of 2009.

As regards the 2010 inflation rate, Shlapak noted that it must also be about 14-15%, Ukraine will hardly manage to have one-digit inflation rate next year.  He expressed confidence that in 2010 it would be necessary to liberalize prices in gas, energy and public utility sectors.

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