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the least offensive figures, or if the president will be in conflict with them.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), the country's main anti-graft body, has fully or partially closed 63 cases related to illegal enrichment of government officials following February's cancellation by the nation's Constitutional Court of the criminal responsibility for such wrongdoings. "The total amount of fortunes, the origin of which was investigated by NABU detectives in these cases, was about UAH500mn ($18mn). Most often it was about incomes and property of people's deputies, prosecutors, officials of central authorities and judges," Interfax quoted the NABU's statement published last week. The cancellation by Ukrainian Constitutional Court of the criminal responsibility for illicit enrichment of the country's officials have triggered worries in Kyiv about the country's further cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The parliament passed the law on criminal responsibility for illicit enrichment of the nation's officials in 2015 as one of the conditions for Ukraine to receive a visa-free regime with the EU and to continue its cooperation with the multinational lender. According to the NABU, the Constitutional Court's move will lead to the closure of all criminal proceedings under this article, and it will be impossible to resume relevant investigations in future. Meanwhile, the Specialised Anti- Corruption Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine (SAPO) also announced last week the closure of 65 criminal proceedings related to illicit enrichment by March 28. The approximate amount of possible illegal enrichment at the centre of criminal proceedings investigated by detectives of the NABU amounts to UAH1.334bn, $1.137mn and 531,000, the SAPO said in a separate statement.
Moscow's Basmanny District Court has sanctioned the arrest in absentia of the former Ukrainian Defence Minister and the presidential candidate Anatoliy Hrytsenko, who is charged with "public calls for terrorism", according to Russian media. Hrytsenko, who is widely considered as being a reform- minded politician, secured almost 7% of votes in the first round of the presidential election on Mach 31, the Central Election Commission has said on April 4 after it processed 100% of ballots. "The court has granted the investigation's motion to impose a measure of restraint in the form of arrest in absentia on Hrytsenko. The period of his arrest will begin from the moment of his detention or extradition to the Russian Federation," court spokesperson Yunona Tsaryova told news agency Interfax. According to the court, Hrytsenko was charged in absentia on two counts of "public calls for terrorist activities using media or the Internet." According to the Russian Investigative Committee, in 2014, in a live Internet broadcast by the Studio 1+1 television and radio broadcasting company, Hrytsenko "made a public call to commit terror attacks in the Russian Federation by means of blowing up railway trains."
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is going to sign a special decree with the aim to launch the nation's high anti-corruption court, he said in a televised talk show at the ICTV channel on April 8. "This week my decree should be signed and we must launch the anticorruption court," Poroshenko said, adding that the competition for the posts of judges of the anti-corruption court had been carried out impeccably with the participation of the council of international experts and had been recognised throughout the world.
Ukraine has lost the dispute in the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Russia's restrictive measures on the transit transportation of merchandise by road and rail, introduced in.2014-2016. According to a WTO special panel, Russia did not violate WTO rules by limiting the transit of Ukrainian goods
21 UKRAINE Country Report May 2019 www.intellinews.com