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votes, compared to the 300-vote majority needed to amend the constitution. Five of the parliament’s six factions voted in favour, while none of the 38 Russian-oriented MPs of the Opposition Bloc offered their support. Embroiled in a tight election campaign, President Petro Poroshenko was sure to be in the session hall to witness the vote and commend parliament afterwards. “Today is a historic day in, which Ukraine’s foreign policy orientation towards the EU and NATO was secured in the Constitution,” he said after the vote. “NATO is not only about military security, but also the safety of the citizen, safety on the streets and the rule of law.”
The Opposition Platform For Life party, which campaigns on a pro-Russia platform, nominated party head and former energy minister Yuriy Boyko (aka Boiko), as its presidential candidate at the party congress on January 29. In his remarks, Boyko said his first step as president would be initiating talks for peace and ending the bloodshed in the Donbas region. He also took a popularist swipe at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and called for reducing natural gas prices for households that were recently hiked as part of IMF requirements. He guaranteed improved social payments for the most vulnerable groups of society.
A Kyiv district court ruled on February 5 to temporarily remove Acting Health Minister Ulana Suprun from continuing to serve in her post, citing her dual US-Ukrainian citizenship and her service as acting minister exceeding the one-month limit. The ruling came in response to a complaint filed by Radical Party MP Ihor Mosiychuk, whose fellow party members joined a chorus of prominent Ukrainians opposing her reforms in the medical sphere. (Dr. Suprun’s reforms also have drawn many prominent supporters, particular among Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic advocates.) In late January, a prominent psychologist, Dr. Semen Gluzman, sent an email to his colleagues alleging that President Poroshenko was ready to remove Suprun from her post, which he supported. Yet after the court ruling, Poroshenko expressed his full support for Suprun and her reforms in remarks to the American Chamber of Commerce, stressing that she is a full citizen of Ukraine. Regarding the court ruling, Poroshenko said “the lower courts are not yet reformed, but I don’t have any doubt that the reformed Supreme Court will establish the truth,” as reported by the pravda.com.ua news site. Since becoming acting health minister in July 2016, Suprun has pursued dramatic reforms in Ukraine’s ailing medical sphere such as financing of hospitals and clinics based on active patients, rather than number of hospitals beds. She led the establishment of a system of family medicine, encouraging Ukrainians to visit physicians at their practices and paying them directly, rather than going to overwhelmed hospitals for basic treatment. She also saved costs by merging children’s hospitals with district hospitals in many regions and eliminated corruption schemes for acquiring pharmaceuticals and medical devices, with those affected fueling the criticism against her.
Ukrainian regional council head named suspect in Handziuk acid attack murder in what looks like election-related political, say Kyiv-based analysts The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine named Vladyslav Manher, the head of the Kherson Regional Council, a suspect on February 11 in the acid attack and murder of local civic activist Kateryna Handziuk.
The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine announced on February 5 it has opened a criminal case against Viktor Medvedchuk , the political council chair of the Opposition Platform For Life party, for alleged state treason
20 UKRAINE Country Report March 2019 www.intellinews.com