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Presidential advisor Yuriy Biriukov said last week: “Yes, our boats will continue [to go through the Strait]. We can’t simply say: ‘They intimidated us. We won’t go there anymore.’”
Ukraine may withdraw from over 40 agreements with Russia following the naval clash on the Sea of Azov last November, the government says. It is currently studying the impact of the decision, should it be implemented, as the use of the Sea that is home to two important Ukrainian ports may be adversely affected. Ukrainian Deputy Minister for Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons Yuriy Hrymchak said that Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin said that after the decision not to prolong the Friendship Treaty with the Russian Federation, which expired last year, Ukraine is now reviewing 40 more agreements with Russia during an interview on TV Channel Pryamiy, reports UNIAN. The Friendship treaty was established shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and also partly covers the two countries joint use of the sea.
The Russian government issued a December 25 decree expanding by 252 list of Ukrainian individuals and enterprises targeted by sanctions first applied on Nov. 1. “This is being done to defend the interests of the Russian state, enterprises and citizens,” said Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who signed the resolution expanding the first round of sanctions that froze those bank accounts, financial securities and real assets located in Russia of 322 Ukrainian citizens and 68 enterprises. They reportedly don’t affect goods imports from Ukraine. The expanded list consist of 567 citizens and 75 enterprises.
Crimea concludes construction of 60 km fence on Ukraine border. The occupational government of Crimea concluded the construction of a 60 km fence with built-in sensors along its border with Ukraine, the Russian Federal Security Service reported on Dec. 27, as reported by the tass.ru news agency. “The use of these complexes on the Crimea border is necessary owing to threats such as attempts by sabotage-intelligence units of the neighboring state to cross into Crimean territory, as well as attempts to organize illegal transit of armaments, ammunition, tobacco and alcohol products, narcotics, psychotropic items,” the statement said. The fence, which includes hundreds of sensors and cameras, is guaranteed for 10 years, it said.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced on December 27 that it uncovered a network of Russian military intelligence agents operating in the Mykolayiv region and liquidated its illegal activity. The leader of this network, a captain in Ukraine’s Armed Forces reserves, was arrested on December 20 on charges of treason and was found to have Russian citizenship, violating Ukraine’s prohibition on dual citizenship. He traveled numerous times to occupied Crimea for meetings.
Ukraine’s ban on sales of farmland was extended for one more year in December . With the Rada vote on Thursday, the ban will complete two decades. But the new law gives the Cabinet of Ministers two months to come up with a land sale bill. The government’s leading version provides for a cautious exit from the freeze: land sales allowed only to Ukrainian citizens, with no buyer allowed to amass a holding larger than 200 hectares. The World Bank estimates that a free market for farmland would generate $1bn a year in rural investment.
20 UKRAINE Country Report February 2019 www.intellinews.com