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Luhansk defender of Russian-backed fighters Sergei Dunayev, and Medvedchuk business partner Taras Kozak.
Oleksandr Vilkul, the parliamentary faction co-chair of the Opposition Bloc party, announced on June 7 that it formed an alliance with four parties that consist of the Party for Peace and Development led bybnaire Vadim Novinsky, the Nashi party led by Yevgeny Murayev, the Renaissance party led by Vitaliy Khomutynnik, and the Trust Actions party led by Kharkiv Mayor Gennady Kernes and Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov. At its June 10 congress, the Opposition Bloc party announced its Top Ten closed party list for the elections, to be led by pro-Putin MP Murayev, Akhmetov business partner Novinsky, longtime Akhmetov business executive Vilkul, Kharkiv political kingpin Kernes, alleged international gangster Trukhanov, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko, Zaporizhia Mayor Volodymyr Buriak, Khmelnytskiy Regional Councilmember Uliana Tkachenko, lawyer Volodymyr Pylypenko and Uzhgorod Mayor Bohdan Andreyev.
Pro-Putin MP acquires latest news organization. Taras Kozak, an MP with the pro-Russian Opposition Bloc, completed on June 14 the acquisition of the ZIK news organization, which includes a national television network and news site, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported. Kozak also controls the 112 Ukraine and NewsOne national television networks, the report said. Kozak is a longtime political ally to Viktor Medvedchuk, who is the political council head of the Opposition Platform For Life, Ukraine’s leading pro-Russian party. Russian President Putin recently identified Medvedchuk as among his leading advisers on Ukraine. Putin is godfather to Medvedchuk’s daughter. Many of the leading journalists, editors and producers at ZIK announced they were quitting upon learning that Kozak acquired their organization, the detector.media news site reported on June 14. Among them was veteran journalist Serhiy Rahmanin, who is a parliamentary candidate with the Voice party. Meanwhile, Kozak is creating a media holding company for his assets, the news site said.
The Supreme Court of Austria has cleared the way for controversial Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash to be extradited to the US where he would face corruption charges. The court rejected a complaint filed by Firtash against the 2017 appellate court ruling to permit his extradition to the US, where he is wanted for allegedly bribing Indian officials to secure mining licences. Firtash has been stuck in Austria where the US authorities sprang the charges and extradition request.
Court overturns e-declaration requirements on NGO community. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine ruled on June 6 that legislation requiring Western-sponsored, non-governmental organization (NGO) employees and other anti-corruption activists to electronically declare their income, assets and purchasing activity violated the law. “I believe that the requirement to submit electronic declarations on assets makes civil society – which plays the role of monitoring government – dependent on it,” wrote on Facebook the same day, Liudmyla Denisova, Ukraine’s human rights ombudswoman who filed a court appeal against the legislation along with other complaints from Ukraine’s NGO community. “Anti-corruption restrictions should apply only to state officials. Extending these requirements to private individuals violates their constitutional rights and the rule of law, in terms of violating legal certainty.” Former President Petro Poroshenko signed legislation requiring the employees of Ukraine’s Western-financed, anti-corruption, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to declare not only their assets and income, but also their purchasing activity in March 2017. The law also required their vendors to file declarations.
18 UKRAINE Country Report July 2019 www.intellinews.com