Page 6 - bne_newspaper_February_02_2018

6 I The Month That Was bne February 2018
Politics
Eastern Europe
Russian President Vladimir Putin's trust rating hit an all-time high in 2017 with 57.7% of respondents say- ing they trust him, according to the state owned pollster, the Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VTsIOM).
A company tied to Russianbnaire Oleg Deripaska sued president Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort, claiming Deripaska
was defrauded of $18.9mn it gave to Manafort to invest in a Ukrainian cable television venture.
Ukraine’s natural gas giant Naf-
togaz won a case against Russia’s Gaz- prom on December 22 in the Stock- holm international arbitration court, which retroactively cancelled a take- or-pay clause in the controversial 2009 contract that is worth billions of dollars.
A court in Cyprus has frozen $820mn in assets belonging to Rinat Akh- metov, Ukraine’s richest oligarch, in
a long-running legal dispute over the country’s biggest fixed-line telecoms group Ukrtelecom.
Seven parties would qualify for Ukraine’s parliament if elections were held now, two of, which are Russian- oriented, according to a poll released in late December. The Fatherland party led by former political prisoner and populist Yulia Tymoshenko leads the polls and would win 16.8% of votes.
Central Europe
The Polish government will be one
of continuity, Poland’s new Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki pledged in his maiden speech in the parliament. Morawiecki vowed to tackle Poland’s poor air quality, invest more in infra- structure and affordable housing, take care of Polish companies, as well as boost financing of health care.
Poland’s Sejm passed controversial laws on December 8 making the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party the decisive influence on appointing judges in the country’s judiciary.
Mass protests marked the start of Bulgaria’s EU Council presidency. Thousands took to the streets in numer- ous separate protests during the official opening ceremony, hoping that Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s wish for a calm and stable six months would give them greater leverage to get what they wanted.
Southeast Europe
Petar Hristov, a prominent Bulgarian businessman, was shot dead in front of his main office in Sofia. The reasons for the shooting of Hristov, who is close to the ruling GERB party, are not known.
Moldovan parliament speaker Andri- an Candu signed a law banning Rus- sian media propaganda. Candu briefly took over as acting president while
Igor Dodon was temporarily suspended under a constitutional court decision.
President Klaus Iohannis promulgated the law on Romania’s purchase of sev- en Patriot missiles systems in a $3.9bn deal. The approval of the multi-billion euro defence package comes on the background on rising tensions between Russia and the US.
Kosovan politicians are trying to
have a Special Court for war crimes abolished before it makes its first indict- ments, as they fear political leaders in the country will face charges.
The Romanian parliament adopted legislation that will extend govern- ment control over the judiciary. The adoption of the bill came despite mass protests held in Bucharest and other cities against the parliament’s plans to amend judicial legislation.
Almost half of all Moldovans do not trust any politician, a poll showed. President Igor Dodon enjoyed the most trust among the population, although just 19.8% of respondents indicated they trusted him.
Eurasia
Egg prices in Iran – a key point of contention in the anger over food prices said to have driven the original pro- tests that set off the nationwide wave
of Iranian demonstrations over the
new year period – were cut under the government’s fixed price mechanism.
The five littoral states that share the shore of the Caspian Sea have after decades of talks agreed to settle their differences and delineate the inland sea’s maritime borders. Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan are mindful of ascertaining satisfactory boundaries given the rich oil and gas reserves under the sea.
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev reshuffled his cabinet, removing long-serving economy minister Galina Saidova and trade minister Elyor Gani- yev, officials left over from predecessor Islam Karimov's time in office.
Kazakhstan has tightened its media law. Journalists now require pre-article permission from mentioned individuals in relation to “personal, family, medi- cal, banking, commercial [information] and other legally protected secrets” and anonymous comments on news websites are prohibited.
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