Compulsory insurance during industrial development approved

News / 31 January 2014 | 16:57

At its meeting on Jan. 29, 2014, the Cabinet of Ministers approved compulsory insurance of property risks during industrial development of oil/gas fields and research, production, and use of natural gas (methane) around coal deposits, the Information-Analytical Bulletin of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine informs.

The project was developed by the government to ensure the compensation of damage caused to environment due to accidents or technical problems during development of oil and gas fields and production of coalmine methane.

Industrial experts note that activity of companies involved in production and processing of oil and gas is directly linked to pollution threats. Therefore, insurance mechanism is required to guarantee compensation for damage to environment of Ukraine.

In the adopted document, insured sum of one compulsory insurance contract will be: for production of over 100 million m3 of gas or 15 million tons of oil and gas condensate – 10 million non-taxable minimum incomes; 20 million m3 of gas or 3 tons of oil and gas condensate to 100 million m3 of gas or 15 million tons of oil and gas condensate – 6 million; for less than 20 million m3 of gas or 3 tons of oil and gas condensate – 4 million of non-taxable minimum incomes.

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FM: U.S. officials not impose sanctions against citizens of Ukraine

News / 31 January 2014 | 16:48

U.S. officials did not impose sanctions against citizens of Ukraine, deputy foreign minister Andriy Olefirov told a briefing on the results of his working visit to the U.S. on January 27-29, ForUm correspondent reports.

“Not a single word about sanctions was said in conversations with my colleagues… The representatives of neither the Department of State, nor the White House talk to me about financial or political sanctions,” he said.

Olefirov noted that he did not raise the issue of sanctions as well. “I do not want to speculate on informal statements made both in Ukraine and abroad,” he added.

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Activists in Hrushevsky Street may have been killed by Berkut officers, Interior Ministry supposes

News / 31 January 2014 | 16:40

The Interior Ministry does not rule out that two activists in Hrushevsky Street in Kyiv were killed by officers of “Berkut” Special Forces, first deputy chief of the Interior Ministry investigation department Vitaly Sakal told a press conference.

“We consider several versions of these murders, including committing murders by Berkut officers,” Sakal said.

At the same time, according to him, two examinations indicate the unlikelihood of such a version, as Special Forces soldiers do not use such weapons and such munitions.

 The cause of death of two protesters – 20-year-old resident of Dnipropetrovsk region Sergei Nigoyan and 25 -year-old citizen of the Republic of Belarus Mikhail Zhiznevsky were gunshot wounds.

January 25, another young resident of Lviv region died in a Kyiv hospital after he had received a gunshot wound on January 22 in the Hrushevsky Street.

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Forensic expert: Information about 26 unidentified corpses untrue

News / 31 January 2014 | 16:34

Information about 26 unidentified corpses, which were allegedly found in Kyiv morgue #1 is not true, and is most likely intended to stir up the society, chief of Kyiv Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination Volodymyr Yurchenko told ForUm correspondent.

“We were surprised by this information, incomprehensible lists that do not exist in the bureau. We have certain forms of reporting on this issue, but the forms, which were published, fare not ours. Those forms are not typical of our institutions,” Yurchenko said.

Chief of the Bureau suggests that these data are similar to reports of trucks with corpses, allegedly taken to the city morgue. “Those, who spread such information, pursue not quite good goals, I think. They want to stir up our people by throwing the unfounded reports,” he said. 

According to Yurchenko, 14 unidentified dead bodies are now in the Kyiv morgue #1, and they will be buried as soon as weather permits.

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Police: Mass protest rallies in Kyiv were planned

News / 31 January 2014 | 16:20

The Ukrainian opposition planned the ongoing mass protests in Kyiv beforehand and prepared a scenario involving the use of force among others, a high-ranking Ukrainian Interior Ministry official said, Interfax-Ukraine informs.

“Information that is contained on servers that have been confiscated concerns the Batkivschyna all-Ukrainian association’s activities and indicates that the mass protest actions that started in Kyiv on November 21 last year were not spontaneous but had been planned beforehand,” Oleh Hnativ, a deputy chief of the Interior Ministry main investigations department, said at a press conference in Kyiv on Friday.

Hnativ said he meant servers confiscated from an office housing an IT company on Turovska Street on December 9, 2013.

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Infrastructure Ministry monitors quality of transportation

News / 31 January 2014 | 16:07

Ukraine’s Ministry of Infrastructure has reported on its performance in 2013 in the area of licensing carriers and inspecting their fleet of vehicles. Over the past year, Ukrtransinspektsiya carried out 3,559 inspections of land transport at their business location.  In total over 205,100 vehicles were inspected, which is up 9% year-on-year, the Information-Analytical Bulletin of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine informs.

Some 76,400 violations of the road transport law were found during inspections. They resulted in over 30,400 administrative fines for over 30.8 million UAH. Also 2,111 administration violation reports were put together, which resulted in 1,105 rulings on administrative offenses for over 249,900 UAH. In addition, during 2013 Ukrtransinspektsiya conducted 4,126 inspections of compliance with license conditions, and revoked 2,911 licenses.

The Ministry of Infrastructure say, due to inspections, the quality of trucking services was improved. In particular, in 2013 the number of road accidents because of the licensed transport fell by 33%, mortality – by 32% YOY.

As for licensing activities, Ukrtransinspektsiya issued 6,909 licenses for transportation of passengers and hazardous goods. During 2013 56,577 licensing cards were issued.

Experts also note that the number of international carriers grew in the past year. Ukrtransinspektsiya issued over 694,900 permits in 2013. In particular, carriers were issued 7,914 permits for non-scheduled operations (up 2.2% from 2012) and 3,839 permits for regular passenger transportation by road, which is up 23.4% from 2012. The rest, 683,200 permits were issued to international freight carrier, which is up 9.7% YOY. 

As of Jan. 1, 2014 Ukraine has 43,964 carriers authorized to transport passengers, hazardous cargo and baggage by road who hold 141,376 license cards.

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Ukraine’s renewable energy shows good growth dynamics

News / 31 January 2014 | 15:55

Renewable energy in Ukraine shows good growth dynamics, deputy head of the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine Serhiy Dubovyk told a press conference, ForUm correspondent reports.

“We can say that the industry got on its feet. At present the total power (of renewable energy facilities – Ed.) reached 1.200 MW,” he said.

According to the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving press office, 539.1 MW were commissioned in 2013, which is 50.6 % more than capacities commissioned in 2012. This allowed to produce more than 1.5 billion kW/h of “green” energy (excluding large HPPs) last year.

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Draft National Renewable Energy Action Plan developed

News / 31 January 2014 | 15:40

Draft National Renewable Energy Action Plan up to 2020 will soon be submitted for consideration to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

This was announced by deputy head of the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine Serhiy Dubovyk during a press conference, ForUm correspondent reports.

 “The document is almost ready and soon will be submitted for review and approval in the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine,” Dubovyk said.

According to him, the main indicator, stipulated in the plan, is reaching the rate of 11% of energy produced from alternative sources in the overall energy balance of the country in the end of 2020.

Dubovyk also praised recently adopted national energy strategy.

“Our proposals were taken into account in full. The energy strategy actually stipulates the current dynamics. The data allow us to coordinate our National Action Plan with the energy strategy,” he concluded.

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