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can be worked out​. He also says Ukraine should renew direct purchases of gas from Russia, a practice dropped four years ago.
Poland’s refusal to grant Ukraine sufficient trucking permits “is economic genocide,”​ Ukraine’s new trade representative, Taras Kachka, told a Kyiv conference, “Trade Wars: The Art of defence.” Ukraine needs 230,000 permits for 2020, but Poland will only grant 160,000. “This is stifling our trade with the European Union," Kachka said.
Authorities search office of Poroshenko-controlled television network.
Law enforcement authorities conducted searches on November 7 of the office of Volodymyr Makeyenko, the formal owner of the Priamiy television network, in a criminal case of tax evasion when he acquired the broadcaster, according to the State Bureau of Investigations. The search warrant was granted by a court, though authorities declined to offer any specifics, the pravda.com.ua news site reported, citing officials at the network. They accused the government of “pressure and an assault” on freedom of the press. The true owner of Priamiy is widely acknowledged to be former President Poroshenko. The network practically served as his mouthpiece during his presidency and the months afterwards.
President Office no longer trying to remove Klitschko, adviser says. ​The President’s Office is no longer trying to remove Vitali Klitschko from his post as head of the Kyiv City Administration, Maksym Bakhmatov, an adviser to the mayor, said in an interview published on November 6 on the bihus.info news site. Bakhmatov cited recent poll ratings in, which Klitschko’s support has risen in recent months, while support has fallen for Oleksandr Tkachenko, the People’s Servant MP who is backed by the President’s Office for the mayorship. Klitschko has the support of 36.6% of Kyiv residents, according to a poll of 803 respondents conducted between October 11 and 22 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. Tkachenko has 18.0% support, while political commentator Andriy Palchevskiy has 12.6%. The poll results were published on October 29.
Fines for air and water pollution would increase four-fold under a bill submitted to the Rada​ by President Zelenskiy’s Servant of the People party. Sponsors estimate such an increase would generate $560mn in revenue for the state. Zelenskiy grew up in Kriviy Rih, a city with an air pollution problem from the ArcelorMittal steelworks.
2.11 ​Polls & Sociology
The share of Ukrainians who consider that the current nation's government is better than former authorities has shrunk from 48% in October to 43% in November​, according to the latest survey conducted by Kyiv-based Razumkov Center. Among political leaders, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was most trusted (68% of respondents trust him, 24% do not trust him), followed by parliament speaker Dmytro Razumkov (52% and 31%, respectively) and Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov, released from Russian prison earlier this year, (36% and 29%, respectively), according to the survey published on November 11. During the poll, 2,015 respondents were interviewed over the age of 18 in all regions of Ukraine, with the exception of Crimea and the rebel-held territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The theoretical sampling error (excluding the design effect) does not exceed 2.3% with a probability of 0.95.
16​ UKRAINE Country Report​ December 201 ​ ​www.intellinews.com