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committee of the National Reform Council. Initially Zelenskiy wanted to make the controversial politician deputy prime minister with responsibility for reforms but couldn't must enough votes in the Rada to get the appointment approved. Any candidate to the Cabinet put up by the president has to be approved by the Rada, but Zelenskiy has lost control of his Servant of the People (SOTP) majority fraction in the Rada. Saakashvili met with Prime Minister Denis Shmygal, as well as factions of SOTP and the opposition party Golos (Voice).
Georgia sharply criticized the possible appointment of Saakashvili to the Ukrainian government, not excluding the possibility of recalling the ambassador from Kyiv. President Salome Zurabishvili said that this causes a lack of trust between countries. Despite his reformist image in the west, Saakashvili is not popular at home in Georgia where he is wanted on corruption charges.
2.2​ ​Ukraine closes new deal with IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has signed off on a new staff-level 18-month Stand-by Arrangement (SBA) with Ukraine on the same day that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed the new anti-Kolomoisky banking bill into law on May 22.
The crucial deal opens the way for tens of billions of dollars in multilateral aid and makes default on Ukraine’s large debt repayments and a debilitating crisis much more unlikely.
Foreign investors were already buoyed the passage of the so-called anti-Kolomoisky banking bill, which bans the state from returning nationalised banks to their former owners and passed its ​third reading ​earlier this week - the key piece of legislation the IMF had been waiting for.
8​ UKRAINE Country Report​ June 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com