Page 14 - UKRRptAug18

Ukraine's state-owned natural gas monopoly Naftogaz has filed a new $11bn claim against Russia's natural gas giant Gazprom with the Stockholm arbitration , demanding the review of tariffs on gas transit, Naftogaz said in a statement on June 6. "Today [on June 6], Naftogaz submitted a claim for revision of the tariff in its transit contract with Gazprom to arbitration in Stockholm," the statement reads. "The transit contract between Naftogaz and Gazprom allows the parties to request a revision of the tariff in case of significant changes in the European gas market and if the tariff does not correspond to the level of tariffs in Europe." In February, the Stockholm arbitration ruled that Naftogaz's claim for tariff revision was rejected for procedural reasons, and Naftogaz's substantive right to a revision of the tariff was therefore not decided in that award.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has pledged to start the fight against illegal timber exports to the European Union (EU). The move followed the publication of an investigation about illegal supplies by UK-based non-profit organisation Earthsight on July 14. The EU is by far the largest destination for Ukrainian wood exports, representing 70% of the total. EU purchases have been rising rapidly, breaking €1bn in 2017.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klychko is going to run for the mayor post again , however, he has no ambitions to take part in the 2019 presidential election, the politician and former heavyweight boxer said in an interview with Novoye Vremia magazine. Klychko, one of the leaders of the Euromaidan popular uprising in Ukraine, has held the post of Kyiv mayor since June 2014.
Artem Sytnyk, director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), the country's newly-created anti-graft body, has visited the president’s private home for a late night meeting , which "creates enormous suspicions and casts doubts on Sytnyk’s integrity", according to Kyiv-based brokerage Concorde Capital. The NABU chief was video-recorded by RFE/RL reporters on April 26. The journalists confirmed Sytnyk’s presence by identifying his car, and also confirmed the presence of cars used by lawmaker Oleksandr Hranovskiy, who is known as the president’s 'curator' in the nation’s prosecutor’s offices and courts. Sytnyk confirmed he was at the president’s house that night, but said it was merely to discuss the details of the independent anti-corruption court that was requested by Western donors and backers.
Russian special services detained seven merchant ships in the Sea of Azov on June 9 , and four more a few days earlier, which headed to Ukraine's cities of Mariupol and Berdiansk or left from there, deputy speaker of the nation's parliament Oksana Syroid has said at a meeting of the parliament's conciliatory council in Kyiv. According to the 2003 agreement signed between the Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s then-President Leonid Kuchma, both countries can use the Azov Sea freely. This same agreement, Khara says, allows Russia to position their vessels near the shore of Ukraine.
Ukrainian companies were victims of bribery and corruption at rates almost three times higher than global averages , according to PwC’s Global Economic Crime Survey. Conducted once every two years, the survey found that about half of companies polled were victims of economic crime -- near the global average. But of this group, 73% reported problems with bribery and corruption -- compared to 25% globally. In Ukraine over the last two years, the proportion of economic crime committed by employees doubled, from 28% in
14 UKRAINE Country Report August 2018 www.intellinews.com