Page 18 - UKRRptDec18

defended his record and argued that political enemies were speculating on Handziuk’s death to attack the president and his team. He also blamed them for leaking information vital to the investigation. “Until yesterday, I was sure we would work effectively in the nearest future,” he told parliament. “Nonetheless, one of our leads was leaked to the mass media during the ‘public relations on blood’ pursued by those who want to smear the government in any way.”
This is the third time Lutsenko has submitted his resignation throughout his political career as a tactic to counteract mounting public criticism. As in the previous instances, Lutsenko knew his request would not be accepted. Instead, parliament’s rejection of his resignation request is his way of achieving a vote of confidence before the public, both in Ukraine and in the West.
Analysts believe the leaked lead that Lutsenko is referring to is the accusation, published on November 5 by civil activists, against MP Mykola Palamarchuk for ordering the attack against Handziuk. Palamarchuk is the “smotriashchiy” for the police in the Kherson region, as alleged by the activists of the “Who Ordered Katia Handziuk?” movement. “Smotriashchiy” is criminal jargon for top supervisor and refers to an authority who offers political cover and keeps the established order in a governing body or region.
The US Embassy in Ukraine called upon the residents of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics to boycott the local elections scheduled for November 11. “The residents of eastern Ukraine should boycott these elections, which don’t conform neither to the Minsk Accords, nor Ukrainian legislation,” the embassy wrote on its Facebook page.
Yuliya Tymoshenko, the leader of the All-Ukrainian Union Batkivschyna (Fatherland) party, has said the emigration rates in Ukraine have taken a catastrophic scale and started posing a threat to the national security of Ukraine. She promised to solve this issue after the presidential elections. "We will remove all the obstacles and give our fellow Ukrainians an opportunity to come back home so that they would be able to invest their money in businesses in Ukraine without any hampering, honestly, and effectively. This is how the country will look after the presidential elections," Tymoshenko said at a forum entitled "The New Social Doctrine: New Opportunities for Everyone" in Kyiv on November 23.
The October ammunitions depot fire in Ichnia-- the fourth major ammo dump to go up in flames this year -- was the result of sabotage, said military prosecutor Hryhoriy Riabenko, as reported by the hormadske.ua news site on November 7. A saboteur gained access to the depot and placed an explosive among the stored ammunitions, he said. Investigators are still trying to determine how that happened. In October, Military Prosecutor General Anatoliy Matios said the explosive could have been detonated with the use of an unidentified mobile phone that had been operating in the region. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed on November 7 a law establishing the criminal penalty for barred Russian citizens and Russian law enforcement authorities for entering Ukraine illegally. The law, which also applies to Russian military personnel, establishes penalties for those crossing the Ukrainian border beyond official crossings or without the proper documents.
A local Ukraine court ruled on November 6 to release on personal recognizance Mykola Huta, the former CEO of farming holding Mriya , who defaulted on $1.2bn in 2014 worth of bonds and is suspected of large scale
18 UKRAINE Country Report December 2018 www.intellinews.com