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broadcast of the meeting on Tuesday. His predecessor’s term expired in August 2020. The former Soviet state, which is seeking closer integration with the West as it fights off a military invasion by Russia, has agreed to a demand by the EU and the International Monetary Fund to demonstrate progress in fighting endemic corruption as a condition to receiving financial aid. The government has created institutions aimed at rooting out graft, though little progress has been achieved so far, disappointing Ukrainians and their foreign partners. Ukraine must also appoint a new head of the National Anti- Corruption Bureau, which has come under repeated political attack aimed at undermining its investigations into corrupt
Ukraine urges Canada to cancel turbine return to Germany. Canada announced on July 9 it would return a repaired turbine to Germany for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline. The Kremlin said it would increase gas supplies to Europe if the turbine were returned, while Ukraine has said returning the equipment would breach sanctions, calling it blackmail.
Borrell: EU won't recognize Russian passports issued to Ukrainian citizens in occupied territories. EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's decree to simplify the procedure for all Ukrainians to obtain Russian citizenship is "yet another flagrant violation of Ukrainian sovereignty." The simplified procedure was previously used to hand out Russian passports in Russian-occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts where Russia has distributed almost a million passports since 2019.
Financial Times: Zelensky aide accuses Western banks of 'war crimes'. Oleh Ustenko, an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky, has written letters to JPMorgan Chase, HSBC, Citigroup, and Crédit Agricole. He asked the banks to stop working with companies that sell Russian oil and shares in state-controlled oil and gas groups Gazprom and Rosneft. Ustenko told the Financial Times that Ukraine’s Justice Ministry intends to sue the banks at the International Criminal Court when the war is over. “They are committing war crimes because they are helping the Putin regime,” Ustenko said.
Former head of SBU in Crimea detained on suspicion of treason. The press service of the Security Service of Ukraine said it the SBU had detained Oleh Kulinich, who is charged with several articles of the Criminal Code, including treason, without disclosing where Kulinich is currently being held. President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed Kulinich in Oct. 2020, but fired him on March 2 of this year.
Zelensky to dismiss 28 officials from Security Service. In his evening address to the nation on July 19, President Volodymyr Zelensky said he will dismiss 28 officials from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). The announcement came after Zelensky initiated the dismissal of SBU chief Ivan Bakanov earlier today. On July 17, Zelensky suspended Bakanov along with Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova from their duties due to the high number of suspected high treason and collaborative activities of
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