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6 I The Month That Was bne November 2017
Politics
Eastern Europe
Ukraine’s opposition leader, former prime minister and head of the Bat- kivshchyna (Fatherland) party Yulia Tymoshenko has announced she will stand as a presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential elections. Since she received a poor reception by the crowds on Maidan in 2014 she has staged a remarkable comeback, focusing on populist issues, and currently leads the polls with 11% of Ukrainians saying they would vote for her.
The Russian presidential adminis- tration plans to use encrypted and anonymous Telegram channels to collect and monitor voter sentiment in the regions, RBC daily reported citing the draft of the project developed by a third-party contractor.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed into law a pension reform pack- age earlier greenlighted by the country's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. Howev- er, the government wants to limit the gas tariff price hike the IMF has been demand- ing endangering the next payout from the IMF’s $17.5bn funding programme.
Former Georgian president and ex-gov- ernor of the Odesa region Mikheil Saa- kashvili is asking for asylum in Ukraine. The appeal was filed on September 11, the day after Saakashvili crossed the state border of Ukraine illegally. Earlier,
a court in Kyiv fined Saakashvili UAH3400 (around $125) for for doing so.
Central Europe
Hungary will not support any sanc- tions that the European Union might impose on Poland, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told Polish media. The right-wing populist govern- ments in Budapest and Warsaw are allies in standing up to the EU over a num-
ber of issues, such as refusing to take migrants arriving in southern Europe.
Lithuania is the only EU member state where female employees were more likely to be sent on job-related train- ing by their employer than their male colleagues, a survey found.
A Hungarian oligarch was apprehended by police for spray-painting “Orban is a f***er” on his own newsstands. Lajos Simicska is a former close friend and ally of PM Viktor Orban, but is now locked in a public feud with the prime minister.
Southeast Europe
Three ministers resigned from the Romanian cabinet as Prime Minister Mihai Tudose tightened his grip on the government. Those who stepped down included Deputy Prime Minister Sevil Sahideh, a close ally of PSD leader Liviu Dragnea, who until recently has exerted informal control over the government.
Nato launched a new multinational force in Craiova, southern Romania
as part of its Forward presence in the southeastern alliance states. The move is aimed at countering Russia along Nato’s eastern flank.
The trial of Romania’s ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Liviu Dragnea restarted from scratch having been halted when one of the judges resigned earlier this year. Dragnea already has a suspended sentence for voter manip- ulation in Romania’s 2012 referendum.
Around 50% of Albanian and Bosnian citizens are considering emigra-
tion, the latest Balkan Opinion Barom- eter showed. The number of Albanians keen to leave their home country has increased since 2015, while the number has fallen in Bosnia.
Eurasia
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called on Europe, Russia and China to remain committed to the
nuclear deal with Tehran if the Trump administration pulls out of the multilat- eral agreement Meanwhile, Pentagon chief Jim Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee that it currently appears to be in the strategic interest of Washington to remain in the deal.
Mongolia named macho motorbike enthusiast Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh as its new PM. Tough on law and order, he is known for posing shirtless, Vladimir Putin-style, with a hunting gun, and has been nicknamed "Fist" since he punched an MP in 2012.
Kazakh PM Bakytzhan Sagintayev fired Deputy Energy Minister Aset Magauov and deputy CEO of state energy firm KazMunayGaz Daniyar Berlibayev for failing to ensure stable fuel supplies after Kazakhstan reported fuel shortages on the domestic market, causing long queues at petrol stations.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) said execu- tive power in Azerbaijan has dispro- portionate control and recommended Baku release detainees "whose detention is reasonably doubtful" as well as allow- ing for more freedom of assembly and extra-parliamentary opposition. Baku officials reacted by saying an orches- trated campaign to malign the country was underway.
The Tajik Anti-corruption Agency arrested top investment official Askar Nuralizoda after he was allegedly caught red-handed in
a restaurant taking a $490,000 bribe in return for providing profitable assistance to poultry producers.
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