Maidan Community Sector, Lviv: Dear friends!
December 16 – At Moscow Stock Exchange euro traded at 100 rubles, dollar at 80 rubles. The Bank of Russia believes such currency trading is critical – statements by Deputy Chairman of the Russia’s Central Bank Sergei Shvetsov. “The situation is critical. What is happening now is a nightmare we couldn’t have thought about a year ago. But unfortunately, we are not always able to provide even short-term prospects of our financial markets” – said Shvetsov. After ruble collapsed, people in the annexed Crimea even began looking for hryvnia (other currencies were long gone). Oh well, but at least they can find comfort in annexing Crimea…
December 16 – In Ukraine a need exists in the fourth wave of partial mobilization, reported the Chairman of the General Staff Viktor Muzhenko.
December 16 – The head of Chechnya (part of Russian Federation) Ramzan Kadyrov may ask the President of Russia to let him travel to Donbas and “kill shaitans”.
December 16 – U.S. President Barack Obama will sign the bill to support Ukraine – White House spokesman Josh Ernest. In particular the document provides for supply of defensive arms to Ukraine as well as authorizes the US President to introduce a new round of sanctions against Russia as a result of its aggression in Ukraine.
December 16 – Ukraine and the EU have agreed to complete the implementation of the Action Plan on visa liberalization before the Eastern Partnership Summit in May 2015 – President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.
December 16 – Russia wants to take advantage of oligarch Dmytro Firtash in order to take from Ukrainian storage spaces more than 5 million cubic meters of gas and to discredit Ukraine as a transitor in the eyes of EU. This was stated in an interview on Ukrinform, by the president of the Center Strategy XXI, Mykhailo Honchar. The expert believes that the request by Hazprombank to Dmytro Firtash about the immediate return of $842.5 million – is a transition to the scenario of “gas suffocation” of Ukraine. As a matter of fact, in Ukrainian storage spaces there exist close to 5.7 million cubic meters of gas, which Firtash placed as a ransom when receiving credit from the Russian bank. “According to the official data from Ukrtranshaz, in configuring the tempo of the use of gas from PCH from the beginning of the heating season, Ukraine goes through it and at the beginning of April, it has in storage an untouched minimum of close to 5 million cubic meters,” notes the expert. He believes that this does not suit the Kremlin, which is calculating in January to cut off the delivery through Ukraine of gas to EU and to resusitate the “Southern Flow”.
“In imitating a fabricated corporate conflict between Hazprombank with Group DF, Hazprom creates the condition for taking some of the gas in the storage spaces so that we end up in a difficult situation in January – beginning of February, at the potential peak of the winter cold,” believes Honchar.
The expert believes that the request by Hasprombank to oligarch Dmytro Firtash about the immediate return of $842.5 million – is a transition to the scenario of a “gas suffocation”of Ukraine.
As a matter of fact, in Ukrainian storage spaces there exist close to 5.7 million cubic meters of gas, which Firtash placed as a ransom when receiving credit from the Russian bank. “According to the official data from Ukrtranshaz, in configuring the tempo of the use of gas from PCH from the beginning of the heating season, Ukraine goes through it and at the beginning of April, it has in storage an untouched minimum of close to 5 million cubic meters,” notes the expert. He believes that this does not suit the Kremlin, which is calculating in January to cut off the delivery through Ukraine of gas to EU and to resusitate the “Southern Flow”.
“The non-sly combination includes a request to Firtash to immediately pay his bill. Of course, the latter will refuse, claiming that he does not have the money; however, there is a a ransom – a natural coverage – the gas in the storage spaces which should be passed on to Naftohaz Hazprom, added the expert. In his opinion the goal of this scenario is to demonstrate to Europe “the illegal acts” of Ukraine, its natural inability to fulfill the role of a partner in the chain of delivery of gas to EU.
