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Kolomoisky’s appetites, such as approving legislation to allow electricity imported from Belarus onto the Ukrainian market. Zelensky also replaced the State Property Fund Head Vitaliy Trubarov, who has favorable ties to Kolomoisky, with Dmytro Sennychenko, who is aligned with Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, as alleged by Leshchenko. So it appears that, at minimum, tensions with Kolomoisky will continue throughout the Zelensky presidency.
US Energy Secretary Rick Perry, a former governor of Texas, pushed last summer to add two Texan oil executives to the board of Naftogaz, reports Politico. One of them, Michael Bleyzer, is raising money for private investment in oil and gas exploration and production in Ukraine. Bleyzer did not get back to Politico over the weekend to confirm or deny the proposal. Perry has been drawn into the Trump-Zelenskiy scandal. Next month, he plans to resign as Energy Secretary, following in the footsteps of Kurt Volker, the White House Ukraine Envoy.
The government’s gambling bill submitted this week to the Rada will restrict gambling to hotels: casinos to 5-star hotels; and gambling rooms with slot machines to 3-5 star hotels. A limited number of gambling licenses would be sold by electronic auction. Gambling equipment and software would have to meet international standards. The Cabinet of Ministers would oversee a state gaming authority that would use an online monitoring system to watch gambling organizers by reviewing data from gaming equipment and software.
Zelenskiy appoints Assistant Andriy Yermak and Ukrposhta CEO Ihor Smelyansky for Ukroboronprom’s supervisory board. Yermak is a longtime Zelenskiy ally who also worked in the film industry. Smelyansky is a US-educated executive. They are to work with Aivaras Abromavicˇius, a corporate governance specialist, who seeks to bring corruption under control in the defence manufacturing conglomerate.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed on October 18 a law on concessions that enables transferring state-owned sites into temporary use by private enterprises. The new concessions are aimed at attracting investment and promoting the modernization and effective administration of sites owned by the state and municipalities, according to the text of the legislation, which provides for a single procedure of initiating and approving decisions in conducting concessions. Other than that, the new law enables replacing the concessioner in the event of failing to fulfill obligations and resolving conflicts in international commerce and investment arbitrage.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed on October 18 a law requiring SMEs to use cash registers and offering government cashback rewards as of October 2020 for consumers reporting on unregistered purchases. These SMEs are also required to use Digital Payment Registrars (RROs) in form of a computer or Smartphone application called E-Receipt, which will be freely provided by the State Tax Service. The application will enable issuing digital instead of paper receipts. Recall, the legislative measures drew widespread criticism from entrepreneurs of all sizes, prompting President Zelenskiy to impose a two-year moratorium with an October 17 decree to revise the conditions of these laws with entrepreneurs.
14 UKRAINE Country Report November 2019 www.intellinews.com