Page 19 - UKRRptJul19

Representatives of the European Commission and the US government government called for a review of these requirements, which they said were a step backwards in Ukraine’s reform efforts.
The European Union's has extended economic sanctions on Russia for another six months effective from July 31, an EU spokesman said on June 20. President Vladimir Putin says during his annual phone-in that Western sanctions have cost Russia $50bn but cost the EU $240bn in “lost opportunities.” Trade turnover between Russia and the EU has fallen by about a third to around €200bn since sanctions were first imposed following Russia’s annexation of the Crimea in 2014. According to the EU spokesman, the decision was unanimous (as it has to be) and the decision was reached thanks to the failure by Russia to meeting the conditions lad out in the Minsk Agreements on the settlement of the conflict with Ukraine A source on the sidelines of the EU summit told TASS the decision followed German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s and French President Emmanuel Macron’s report on the implementation of the Minsk Agreements and talks in the Normandy Four format. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said this month he intends to restart the Normandy format talks with Russia, during his first foreign trip, which was to Brussels.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is going to restart the Normandy format peace talks between Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France. "We agreed on the importance of updating cooperation within the Normandy format. Our foreign policy advisers will meet in the near future and prepare the next meeting of the leaders. This is a key issue," Zelenskiy told journalists following a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on June 17.
Ex-president of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma will again lead the Ukrainian side in the trilateral OSCE-Ukraine-Russia contact group, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The first meeting of the group, headed by Kuchma, will take place on June 5, Zelenskiy said at a briefing on June 3. A special presidential order authorising Kuchma to represent Ukraine in the group was signed on the same day. Zelenskiy added that that concrete proposals for resolving the conflict in Donbas would be voiced at a meeting of the group on June 5. "Our group does have concrete proposals [...] I want all these proposals to be determined by understandable deadlines for their implementation," Interfax quoted him as saying. Kuchma, who was appointed to the post by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in 2014, announced his resignation in early October. The same month, Ukrainian career diplomat Ruslan Demchenko replaced Kuchma in the group.
Former Georgian President and ex-Odesa governor Mikheil Saakashvili will run for a seat in the parliamentary elections and has announced its top- five MP candidates for his Movement of New Forces political party that will compete in the July snap elections. These candidates include Saakashvili, former Ukrainian Deputy Prosecutor General David Sakvarelidze, public figure Oles Doniy, Odesa grandmaster Natalia Zhukova, and former Ukrainian Economy Minister Volodymyr Lanovy. According to Ukrainian legislation, a candidate to the Rada should have been living in Ukraine for at least five years. Saakashvili faces the rejection of his candidature by the Central Elections Commission (CEC) due to the fact that he fails to meet this condition.
The Ukrainian leadership is going to launch a new three to four-year programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by late 2019,
19 UKRAINE Country Report July 2019 www.intellinews.com