Page 6 - BNE_magazine_03_2020 wellness

6 I The Month That Was bne March 2020
Politics
Eastern Europe
Vladislav Surkov, a key advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin,
has been dismissed from his position
in the Kremlin. Surkov is the political technologist credited with such concepts of Putin’s rule as “sovereign democracy” and “vertical of power”, who later was seen as the mastermind of Russian involvement in Eastern Ukraine.
Russia and Belarus have tentatively agreed to an oil price compensation scheme after more than a year of wrangling that will minimize Belarus’ losses due to Russian tax changes, BMB reported on February 24. Belarus was expected to lose $420-430mn in 2020, but could receive some $300mn under the new deal as compensation.
Russia’s largest crude oil producer Rosneft is facing logistical problems with oil and oil products exports following the US sanctions of its trading arm Rosneft Trading. The US has imposed sanctions on Rosneft Trading for maintaining ties with Venezuela, but the trading arm accounts for just circa 1% of Ebitda.
Trade between Iran and Russia's Samara Oblast was up fivefold to $110mn in the first three quarters of last year from $23mn in 2018. The Russian city hosted an Iranian business delegation with proposals for boosting bilateral trade under the two-year preferential trade agreement (PTA) between Iran and the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).
Only around 40% of Ukrainians
(who will participate in the elections and will definitely vote) are ready
to support the incumbent President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, if the presidential election took place in the near future, according to a survey conducted by the Razumkov Center. Zelenskiy remains the most popular politician but his support has faded in the last six months.
Central Europe
Poland’s incumbent President Andrzej Duda faces a very close race against most opposition candidates in the likely run-off vote in the presidential election this May, a poll published by local media showed in February. The ruling Law
and Justice (PiS) party does not have
a majority in the parliament to overturn a presidential veto, which an opposition president is expected to wield habitually
Poland’s share in the EU’s just transition project should be cut in half to €1bn unless Warsaw signs up to the 2050 climate neutrality goal, President of the European Council Charles Michel proposed on February 17. The plan is
to help the bloc end the use of coal as a source of energy but Poland is resisting.
Slovaks commemorated the memory of journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova, both murdered two years ago. Kuciak and his fiancée were assassinated in Kuciak's house at Velka Maca in February 2018. Their murder was unprecedented in the modern history of Slovakia, causing a wave of massive protests.
Southeast Europe
Turkey has asked the US to deploy two Patriot missile defence batteries on its southern border to free it to punish any future attacks by Russian- backed Syrian troops on zones in northwestern Syria still held by Ankara- backed rebels. The erstwhile allies have found themselves on opposite sides
in the Syrian conflict.
Police in Catalonia are investigating whether Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov is involved in a money laundering case related to a luxury house purchased in Spain, El Periodico reported. The PM has been forced
to replace nine ministers so far after various corruption scandals.
Croatia’s chief prosecutor Drazen Jelenic resigned on February 19 following top- level pressure to stand down after
he publicly acknowledged being
a freemason. Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said there was nothing illegal about the chief prosecutor being
a member of an association, but it would call his independence into question.
Eurasia
At least two top officials in
Iran have confirmed they have contracted the Covid-19 coronavirus, local media reported including
Iran’s Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi. Several other government members have been infected.
Iran has sentenced eight environmentalists to prison sentences ranging from four to 10 years for spying for the US and acting against national security, judiciary spokesman Gholam-Hossein Esmaili said on February 18.
Kazakh police detained over 100 people planning to attend opposition rallies in the commercial capital Almaty and other cities in Kazakhstan, on February 22. Police were deployed in large numbers to arrest members of the unregistered Democratic Party. The rallies were announced after the Kazakh opposition group cancelled its founding congress for a new political party on February 19.
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