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heads the supervisory board at Ukroboronprom.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko has offered former Georgian President and ex-Odesa governor Mikheil Saakashvili to head his UDAR party ahead of snap parliamentary elections slated for July. "I saw today the appeal of Saakashvili, whose political force created obstacles for participation in the elections," Klitschko wrote on his Facebook page on June 4. "I am ready to lend a political leverage. I am sure that our union will redouble its efforts for change in the country, and together we have a plan for changes and people who are able to implement it. [...] I propose Saakashvili head the party." The mayor added that he supports the steps taken by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy aimed at effective reforming the state and bringing Ukraine closer to the EU and NATO. On June 3, Saakashvili urged his supporters to back the political force of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the upcoming snap parliamentary elections.
PrivatBank in a lawsuit dated May 21 filed to the Delaware court (the United States), promulgated by analyst of Atlantic Council Anders Aslund, accuses the former owners of the bank, Ihor Kolomoisky and Hennadiy Boholiubov, in allegedly laundering $622.8 million, which were issued as loans to one companies of the beneficiaries for the same purpose, but then were used by other companies to purchase assets for them in the United States.
Zelenskiy came out decisively against any denationalisation of PrivatBank, saying: “As for Privatbank, I will protect only the state, only citizens. I am not interested in these games of the former owners in the courts. I am not going to be on their side,” Zelensky said during a meeting Tuesday with Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission’s vice president for the Euro. After Ukraine nationalized PrivatBank and injected $5.5bn in December 2016, Kolomoisky filed 240 cases in Ukraine and abroad to try to get the bank back.
Zelenskiy agrees to revive Minsk peace talks in Normady Four format.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on May 30 in Kyiv to discuss ways to revive the Minsk Accords peace talks, the Interfax- Ukraine news agency said. “We reached the agreement that we will try to fulfill the Minsk Accords in the Normandy Four framework of talks between France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine for peace to be established in eastern Ukraine,” Maas said. In his turn, Zelenskiy cited the support for France and Germany in reaching a cease-fire in Donbas, which he characterized as “the main priority of every Ukrainian.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has submitted a bill to restore criminal responsibility for illegal enrichment of government officials to the nation's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, following February's cancellation of the law by the nation's Constitutional Court. "A draft law developed jointly with national and foreign experts introduces a new mechanism for confiscating illegal assets of officials - by a court decision in a civil process without a conviction, and also reinstates penalties for officials for illegal enrichment - an article of the criminal code, which was recognized by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine as unconstitutional in February 2019," Zelenskiy's media office said in a statement on June 3.
21 UKRAINE Country Report July 2019 www.intellinews.com