Ukraine today

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Tuesday, November 26, 2024 17:48
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SIGNYM

Saturday, December 12, 2015 10:51 PM

I thought this would a better forum for following current events in Ukraine than the long-irrelevant "Russia Invades Ukraine" thread. So, without further ado ...Kiev's DEBT PROBLEM.

The reform of the IMF lending policy is unlikely to help Ukraine avert default. Kiev may soon declare a technical default, the first step to bankruptcy.

Quote:
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde
© REUTERS/ Jonathan Ernst
US Resisted IMF Debt Reform as 'Moral Hazard' Prior to Ukraine Crisis
On Tuesday, the Board of Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) voted to reform its lending policies, allowing countries to continue borrowing money even if they default on bilateral obligations to official creditors.

Experts said that the initiative was linked to the risk of a default by Ukraine on its $3 billion debt to Russia and the fund’s pursuit to save it.

According to Russian director at the IMF Alexei Mozhin, the decision came into effect immediately and would cover previous agreements.

SIGNYM

Saturday, December 12, 2015 11:45 PM

ORIGINALLY POSTED BY RAHL IN RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE.
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=58499&p=29

Quote:
Verbatim. Remember, this is just a summary of the report. Official typos and all (Or maybe it's in British English).

Quote:
Ukraine: Reduction of hostilities but serious human rights concerns persist – UN report

GENEVA (9 December 2015) – In a conflict that has claimed more than 9,000 lives, the last few months have seen a significant reduction of hostilities in certain parts of eastern Ukraine, according to a UN Human Rights report released today. Serious human rights concerns persist, however, including continuing impunity, torture and an absence of the rule of law in the east, as well as a difficult humanitarian situation for those living in the affected areas and for those internally displaced.

The twelfth report by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine states that the “ceasefire within the ceasefire” of 26 August led to a considerable decrease in hostilities, particularly due to the withdrawal of certain heavy weapons by the Ukrainian military and the armed groups. Between 16 August and 15 November, the time period covered by the report, 47 civilians were killed and 131 injured. The total death toll since mid-April last year is at least 9,098, with another 20,732 injured. Total figures include civilians, Ukrainian armed forces and armed groups.

The new casualties resulted largely from explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices, “underscoring the urgent need for extensive mine clearance and mine awareness actions on both sides of the contact line,” the report states. There remains, however, an inflow of ammunition, weaponry and fighters from the Russian Federation into the territories controlled by the armed groups, leaving the situation highly flammable.

The report also reveals that serious human rights abuses against people in the territories controlled by the self-proclaimed “Donetsk people’s republic” and “Luhansk people’s republic” continued, including killings, torture, ill-treatment, illegal detention and forced labour, lack of freedom of movement, assembly and expression. Local residents continue to remain without effective protection of their rights.“An estimated 2.9 million people living in the conflict area continued to face difficulties in exercising their economic and social rights, in particular access to quality medical care, accommodation, social services and benefits, as well as compensatory mechanisms for damaged, seized or looted property,” the report notes, adding that the onset of winter and impediments to the work of humanitarian organisations could worsen the situation.

“The situation for an estimated 800,000 people living along both sides of the contact line has been particularly difficult,” the report notes.

The limitations of the freedom of movement of civilians across the contact line, due to the requirements of the January 2015 temporary order issued by the Government, remained one of the major challenges for people living in the conflict-affected areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. As the reports notes, this is leading to an increased sense of isolation for many people, disrupting family and communal links..

The report also cites pervasive self-censorship and the inability of media professionals to exercise their freedom of expression in the east. Restrictions against media professionals by the Ukrainian Government also undermine freedom of expression.

The report also notes that “elements of the Security Service of Ukraine appear to enjoy a high degree of impunity, with rare investigations into allegations involving them.” The report has documented cases of “enforced disappearance, arbitrary and incommunicado detention as well as torture and ill treatment of people suspected of trespassing against territorial integrity or terrorism or believed to be supporters of the self-proclaimed ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ and ‘Luhansk people’s republic’.”

Accoun

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RAHLMACLAREN

Sunday, December 13, 2015 2:00 AM

Ok, Mod, if you're going to copy my post at least accredit it to me and not cut it off.

ETA - Credit confirmed.

Find here the Serenity you seek. -Tara Maclay

1KIKI

Sunday, December 13, 2015 2:32 AM

https://www.rt.com/business/325152-imf-policy-ukraine-debt/

IMF allows lending to countries with arrears; Russia prepares to go to court over Ukraine debt

The International Monetary Fund has agreed to change its policy on lending to countries that are in arrears to other governments. With Ukraine being among the states that asks for financial aid while owing Russia, the move has angered Moscow.

"The IMF's Executive Board met today and agreed to change the current policy on non-toleration of arrears to official creditors," according to the IMF's Chief Spokesman Gerry Rice statement emailed to RT on Tuesday. "Details on the scope and rationale for this policy change" will be provided later, it added.

Previous IMF guidelines on lending to such states were relatively strict, stating that "the IMF doesn't lend to countries that are not making a good-faith effort to eliminate their arrears with creditors."

Ukraine is among such owing countries, having a $3 billion debt to Russia, with Kiev being on course to miss the end-of-the-year deadline to repay it. Going by the old rules, that would jeopardize IMF bailout to Kiev.

The IMF decision to change its lending policies has been made "in prejudice of Russia and to legalize Kiev's capacities not to pay its debts," Russia's Finance Minister Andrey Siluanov told journalists on Tuesday, as cited by Interfax. Siluanov called the decision "precipitated and preconceived."

Russia has addressed the IMF to help solve the situation with Ukraine's debt, but was told to "engage with negotiations [with Kiev] alongside commercial creditors," Siluanov said.

"It's not a constructive dialogue, circle has been closed. In such conditions we have no other choice but to use all possibilities to protect our rights as a creditor. We are preparing documents to go to court," the finance minister said.

Ukraine’s sovereign debt to Russia dates back to a deal between President Vladimir Putin and former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich that was struck in 2013 and envisaged Moscow buying $15 billion worth of Ukrainian bonds. Russia bought $3 billion worth in December 20, 2013, and the debt is supposed to be repaid by December 20, 2015. In November, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Kiev a three-year installment plan to pay back, but no official answer to the proposal has been received.

The IMF was never that tolerant when EU members got into financial trouble as they are towards Ukraine – the country “with one of the worst economic conditions in the world right now," economist Jack Rasmus told RT.

"It's interesting, the contrast there with IMF's behavior this past year with regard to Greece which is an EU country, when they made Greece make its payments before they would release any additional funds... Ukraine is in the depression and it's about to default, and they are coming up with tens of billions of dollars more just to keep Ukraine floating," Rasmus said.

This one has a more coherent narrative:
http://www.euronews.com/newswires/3105657-imf-rule-change-keeps-ukrain
e-support-russia-complains/

(And, now that it's a policy change, can Greece default on its debt to Germany and still keep IMF loans coming in?)

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

SIGNYM

Sunday, December 13, 2015 12:28 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by RahlMaclaren:
Ok, Mod, if you're going to copy my post at least accredit it to me and not cut it off.

Oops, sorry. I was in a hurry. It's fixed now. Interesting report, thanks.

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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

THGRRI

Sunday, December 13, 2015 8:13 PM

Russia downgraded to junk status for first time in decade

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/26/russia-downgraded-junk
-status-decade-credit-rating

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I thought this would a better forum for following current events in Ukraine than the long-irrelevant "Russia Invades Ukraine" thread. So, without further ado ...Kiev's DEBT PROBLEM.

The reform of the IMF lending policy is unlikely to help Ukraine avert default. Kiev may soon declare a technical default, the first step to bankruptcy.

Quote:
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde
© REUTERS/ Jonathan Ernst
US Resisted IMF Debt Reform as 'Moral Hazard' Prior to Ukraine Crisis
On Tuesday, the Board of Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) voted to reform its lending policies, allowing countries to continue borrowing money even if they default on bilateral obligations to official creditors.

Experts said that the initiative was linked to the risk of a default by Ukraine on its $3 billion debt to Russia and the fund’s pursuit to save it.

According to Russian director at the IMF Alexei Mozhin, the decision came into effect immediately and would cover previous agreements.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/business/20151212/1031658634/imf-reform-ukraine
.html#ixzz3u87iDX6O

SIGNYM

Sunday, December 13, 2015 8:21 PM

So, what does this have to do with Ukraine? If you want to talk about Russia, why not start a new thread?

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

SIGNYM

Sunday, December 13, 2015 8:50 PM

So hey RAHL, I have some thoughts on the report that you posted but I'm way too busy with Xmas coming up and all to respond right away. It will need a detailed reading, and I'd sure like to go back to the original. But I'm always looking for information, so I appreciate the link.

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

1KIKI

Monday, December 14, 2015 1:45 AM

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/24335-wikileaks-ca
bles-confirm-new-ukrainian-president-has-been-working-for-us-govt-since-2006

Wikileaks Cables Confirm New Ukrainian President Has Been Working For US Gov't Since 2006

here's not much point in staging a coup if you don't influence who is placed in power in the aftermath. Of course in order for a puppet government to be effective, they can't be perceived as such. You wouldn't want the natives to get restless would you?

The evidence that the U.S. was behind the toppling of the Ukrainian government early this year is so overwhelming at this point that the subject really isn't up for debate, however initially it was unclear how the election of Petro Poroshenko fit in. The ecstatic response by Washington when he was declared the winner, and their unbending support in spite of his ongoing military assault against civilians in the east, made it clear that he was the chosen one, but the paper trail wasn't immediately obvious.

As it turns out, the evidence that Poroshenko is in the pocket of the U.S. State Department has been available all this time, you just had to know where to find it. In a classified diplomatic cable from 2006 released by Wikileaks.org, U.S. officials refer to Poroshenko as "Our Ukraine (OU) insider Petro Poroshenko".

A separate cable also released by Wikileaks makes it clear that the U.S. government was considered Poroshenko corrupt.

"Poroshenko was tainted by credible corruption allegations, but wielded significant influence within OU; Poroshenko's price had to be paid."

The U.S. government knew Poroshenko was dirty, but he was influential, and arguably their most dependable mole.

Perhaps the most interesting revelation comes from a 2009 cable where Poroshenko told then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton he supported "the opening of a U.S. diplomatic presence in Crimea" and "He emphasized the importance of Crimea, and said that having U.S. representation there would be useful for Ukraine." Poroshenko's role as an informant for the U.S. government continued in cables in 2010 as well.

Reading through the cables, I have to wonder if Poroshenko was actually breaking Ukrainian law by sharing the kind of strategic information that he did. Considering that this information was certainly used when planning the coup against Yanukovich, one could argue that he committed treason.

Poroshenko, however, isn't the only Ukrainian politician mentioned. For example, the cables mention the scandal surrounding Oleksandr Turchynov's destruction of SBU documents tying Julia Tymoshenko to organized crime, and note that the accusation that Tymoshenko wanted Turchynov get the Interior Minister position so that she could gather damaging information on her enemies. The cable refers to this accusation as "not farfetched". Turchynov went on to be installed as the acting president of Ukraine in the provisional government.

In order to grasp the extent of the U.S. government's tinkering in Ukraine it is worth reading the documents for yourself.

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

THGRRI

Tuesday, December 15, 2015 5:09 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
So, what does this have to do with Ukraine? If you want to talk about Russia, why not start a new thread?

I am posting it here because Russia is responsible for the worst of what is going on in the Ukraine. That and because of why you started this thread. To portray Ukraine negatively. So, who is in worse shape?

Russia is bracing for $30 oil in 2016

"Everything indicates that low oil prices are likely to dominate next year. And it is possible that at some periods [the oil price] will be $30 per barrel," Siluanov was quoted as saying by Russian state-run news agencies.

That would spell more pain for Russia. Oil and gas exports make up almost half of government revenue.

The Russian economy took another slide in the third quarter, shrinking by 4.1% compared to the same period last year.

The 60% collapse in oil prices since the middle of 2014 made the situation much worse. Russia is heavily dependent on its oil riches -- a large portion of government revenue comes from oil and gas exports.

The ruble has lost half its value against the dollar since the start of 2014, and inflation has soared.

The International Monetary Fund expects Russian GDP will shrink by 3.8% this year and by another 0.6% in 2016. Meanwhile, it estimates that inflation will hit 15% this year, and average 8.6% in 2016, wreaking havoc on people's budgets.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/12/news/economy/russia-economy-gdp-q3/?ii
d=EL

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