Page 6 - BNE_magazine_04_2019
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6 I The Month That Was bne April 2019
Politics
Eastern Europe
Minister of Economy Maxim Oresh- kin was booed in the Russian Duma this week during a speech on the 12 national projects. The speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin caused a stir by interrupting and postponing the monthly address by Oreshkin, urging him to "present the concrete steps [of economic development]" rather than the "general overview and analysis of the situation".
Imposition of the sanctions on Rus- sia’s GAZ carmaker was delayed by four months to July 6, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department (USTD) said. By the deadline, US residents would have to divest or transfer debt, equity, or other holdings in GAZ, which belongs to Krem- lin insider Oleg Deripaska.
Central Europe
Slovakia’s President Andrej Kis-
ka appointed Minister of Finance Peter Kazimir to the post of governor of National Bank of Slovakia, who will assume the post as of June 1. Kazi- mir said he plans to continue the work of current governor Jozef Makuch.
Slovakian President Andrej Kiska was questioned by the National Crime Agency (NAKA), as part of an investigation into his alleged blackmailing by the chair of the Smer-SD party, former prime min- ister Robert Fico. In late February, Kiska accused Fico of blackmailing him over con- stitutional court candidacy, intimida-
tion and misusing the police and public institutions in his fight against him.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej
Babis met with US president Donald Trump to discuss cyber security, the international situation and trade with no barriers between the US and EU. Babis is the first Czech PM in the past eight years to receive an invitation to a bilateral meeting with the US president.
Cyber attacks are becoming more serious in Lithuania. The number of cyber incidents of high and medium importance rose by 40% in 2018, accord- ing to a defence ministry report, although the total number of incidents was flat compared to 2017.
Plans to create a grand coalition failed in Estonia, as the Centre Party rejected an offer from the country’s other main party, the Reform Party that won the recent general election, to work together. Estonia’s outgoing Prime Minister, Centre Party chairman Jüri Ratas, said the party failed to agree on tax matters.
Southeast Europe
Russia recognised Macedonia under its new name, North Macedonia. Mos- cow previously raised doubts about the legitimacy of the name change that will pave the way for the Balkan country to join the EU and Nato.
Anti-corruption NGO MANS filed a claim against Montenegro’s President Milo Djukanovic and several other busi- nessmen and politicians who it accused of abusing their positions to gain illegal profit from the privatisation of power firm EPCG.
Several thousand opposition support- ers staged a protest in Albania, defying a police decision not to give permission for the protest. Despite this, the opposition Democratic Party went ahead with the planned protest, accusing the police of breaking the law with their decision not to allow the rally to take place.
A Romanian businessman inaugu- rated a single metre of motorway to demand better infrastructure. The first metre of motorway in eastern and northeastern Romania was built, at his own expense, by Stefan Mandachi, the owner of the Spartan fast-food chain.
Eurasia
The Social Democratic Party of Kyr- gyzstan (SDPK) decided to join the opposition. The decision – taken by
the half of the party that is still loyal to former President Almazbek Atambayev – was made so that that "it could criticise the government and propose other ways for the country’s development, ” SDPK spokeswoman Kunduz Joldubaeva told reporters.
The border between Iran and Azer- baijan appears to have become a hot zone for black market bandits, with a suspected smuggler and a patrol soldier shot dead in two incidents reported between March 10 and 12. The collapse of the Iranian rial (IRR), brought about by the reimposition of US sanctions against Tehran last year, has opened up a wealth of illicit hard-to-resist trading opportunities.
Kazakh security services detained the leader of Atazhurt Eriktileri (Volunteers of the Fatherland),
a group that has raised concerns over repression faced by ethnic-Kazakhs
in “reeducation camps” in China's Xin- jiang region. Astana police said he was suspected of inciting "national discord or hatred”.
Four days of bilateral talks between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan following vio- lent clashes at a disputed section of the Tajik-Kyrgyz border concluded suc- cessfully and the area was reopened. The clashes that took place on March 13-14 left two Tajik citizens dead from gunfire and at least 13 more Tajiks and three Kyrgyz citizens wounded.
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