Page 18 - UKRRptMay19

Top investor demands were: creating a real judiciary system, reducing corruption and preserving the independence of the central bank.
The parliamentary elections will be key as currently the Rada is dominated by the old guard political elite, with former president Petro Poroshenko head of the largest fraction. Zelenskiy newly created Servant of the People party has no representatives in parliament at all. If his party does badly in the October election he runs the risk of being a lame duck president.
2.9 Zelenskiy’s passport zingers
Its what you would expect from a professional stand-up comedian:
Ukraine’s president-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy roasted Russian president Vladimir Putin’s offer to grant Russian passports to any Ukrainian that wants one with a mixture of satire and scorn that was at the same time funny and poignant.
Zelenskiy countered Putin’s offer, by offering all Russians a Ukrainian passport so they could leave a repressive Russia for the “freedom” of Ukraine. And he has a point.
Only a week in office and the Kremlin has been testing Zelenskiy, who has come through his first clash with Putin with flying colours. Some observers were hoping that Putin would take the opportunity of a new presumably more sympathetic president in Ukraine as a chance to begin walking the tensions back and start the search for a compromise to end the conflict between the two countries.
But Zelenskiy’s honeymoon period was over after only three days (although he wont officially take over as president until the inauguration, slated fro June 3) after Putin signed a decree to make it easier for occupants of the war-torn Donbas region to obtain a Russian passport.
Separately the Kremlin has been turning the screws on Kyiv with a ban on oil and coal exports to Ukraine. Despite the de facto state of war between the two countries Ukraine still imports 80% of its coal, needed to fire power stations, from Russia.
Issuing passports to locals in a region in a foreign country is a particularly aggressive move as it changes the legal status of the passport holder under Russian law. While the vast majority of residents of eastern Ukraine are ethnic Russians, they remain Ukrainian citizens. However, if they hold a Russian passport the Russian constitution obliges the Kremlin to “protect” its citizen’s interests. The same tactic was used in the run up to the annexation of the former Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Passports become a legal precedent for Russian military intervention.
If Russia annexes Donbas that would be a game-changer and even the threat of annexation significantly increases the tensions between Russia and Ukraine – and by extension Russian and the West. Moreover, Putin’s aggressive moves remove all the leeway Zelenskiy had to “reboot” the peace process as he promised during the election campaign.
18 UKRAINE Country Report May 2019 www.intellinews.com