Is Russia Tough Enough to Handle World Sanctions? Kyiv, March 16, 2014. The world’s leading economies stand on the brink of applying harsh political and economic sanctions against Russia as the latter continues its military occupation of Ukrainian Crimea. Having launched a not so covert military invasion of Ukraine, Russia may have triggered certain processes which may sooner or later lead to the collapse of the Russian economy. Numerous nations, including the U.S. and the EU, have called upon Russia to comply with international treaties, respect the sovereignty of Ukraine, withdraw its troops from Crimea and start negotiations. All to no avail. The international community began discussing the threat of imposing political and economic sanctions immediately after Russian troops entered Crimean peninsula on March 1. The European Union and the United States declared their readiness to impose such sanctions as early as March 17. The determining point lay solely with whether Russian occupied Crimea continued with its plans to hold an illegitimate referendum on March 16. To no one’s surprise, Russia remains the only state to support the self proclaimed legitimacy of the Crimean referendum. This stands in stark contrast to the overwhelming majority of the rest of the world, including the US, EU member states and most of the UN Security Council who refused to recognize any degree of legitimacy. Senior EU officials have already drafted a list of those who “do not respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” resulting in them being hit by sanctions, freezing of bank accounts and visa restrictions. Among those on the prepared list are such well known figures as Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, Head of Federal Security Service Aleksandr Bortnikov. As reported by finance.ua the list embraces 120-130 names of senior Russian officials, diplomats and managers of large companies. Last Friday US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Lavrov in a last ditch attempt to persuade Russia to withdraw its troops and abandon plans for the referendum this Sunday. The talks ended with separate statements that no “common ground” was found in the discussions, however the US Secretary of State went
on to warn that the West would be forced to take “very serious steps” if Russia “does not find a way to change course.” Earlier President Obama informed that visa sanctions would be imposed on those, “who take part in the military intervention to Ukraine.” The European Union is one of Russia’s largest trading partners, the collapse of which will have drastic implications for Russia’s economy. Nearly 50 percent of Russian exports go to the EU, while seven percent of EU exports go to Russia. Additionally, the imposition of sanctions will threaten over USD 160 billion of Russian deposits held in Western banks. Since the beginning of 2014, Putin’s foreign policy has not been of much assistance to Russia’s economy. The country’s MICEX stock index has dropped by more than 16 percent, since Russian troops were deployed on Ukrainian territory. The cost of preventing the collapse of Russia’s economy has now increased by half since the confrontation began, reads reuters. com. One of Russia’s major banks, Renaissance Capital, estimated the monetary outflow in the first quarter of 2014 to be USD 55 billion, while the total outflow in 2013 was USD 63 billion. Since the beginning of 2014 the value of the Russian Ruble fell 9.8 percent. The illegitimate referendum in Crimea takes place today. The question tomorrow will be whether Russian citizens believe that supporting such illegal acts, on the territory of a sovereign state, in contravention of major agreements and treaties is worth the price.
Ukraine Evinces Breakthrough in Doing Business Rating Kyiv, February 1, 2014. With the significant breakthrough in dealing with construction permits and registering property, the analysts of the World Bank placed Ukraine on the 112th spot in the Doing Business 2014 rating. In 2013, the grading embraced comprehensive comparative analysis of 189 world’s economies. Overall, Ukraine has made reforms in eight areas and improved its rating in six out of ten areas of business regulation. Within 2013, Ukraine has demonstrated significant progress in dealing with construction permits jumping from 183rd to 41st position. The specialists of Doing Business explain such improvement by the country’s introducing a riskbased approval system for certain approvals and technical conditions and simplifying the process for registering real estate ownership rights. Particularly, the number of procedures to be undertaken had been been reduced in two, from 20 to 10; the time required cut from 375 to 73 days and the cost for all procedures decreased from 1262.2 percent of per capita income to 607 percent. Additionally, Ukraine made transferring property easier by streamlining procedures and revamping the property registration system. The recent reforms made Ukraine climb 52 positions reaching the 97th spot in registering property. Juxtaposing with 2012, in 2013 the number of procedures to be undertaken was reduced from ten to eight, the time required was cut from 69 to 45 days and the cost was reduced from 3.7 percent to 1.9 percent of the property cost. Reportedly, Ukraine is set to continue making improvements in all areas of business including the ones indicated in Doing Business report. “We plan to enhance the usage of remote and
digital means for registering businesses. Particularly, we will enable getting the necessary business documentation via Internet and digital means; introduce the messaging framework for monitoring of the documents and install the facilities for keeping track of the queues in 120 Ukrainian cities,” noted Dmytro Vorona, chairman of the State Registration Service of Ukraine. He expects Ukraine to jump another 60 positions in 2014. Despite considerable advancement, Ukraine still needs to improve such indicators as getting electricity, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders and resolving insolvency, reads the report. “We, at the World Bank Group, are encouraged by Ukraine’s regulatory improvements in the past year. The country’s ranking in this year’s Doing Business report shows that a lot can be achieved in a short time when there is a political will for reform,” said Qimiao Fan, World Bank Country Director for Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. He also noted that the current reforms make Ukraine the best place to do business, as reported by RBK. He expressed hope that the government would further continue to implement reforms.
Ukraine Heads Commonwealth of Independent States Kyiv, January 6, 2014. Ukraine has obtained the governing role in the Commonwealth of Independent States starting January 1, 2014. CIS Council called for 2014 to be devoted to tourism. Throughout 2014, Ukraine, together with all CIS Member States will focus on enabling a number of treaties, aimed at reducing the bottlenecks in free trade of services and promoting more efficient pipeline transport. The decision to focus primarily on the development of tourism and pipeline transport between the CIS Member States in 2014 was made during the meeting of CIS Heads of Member States, which took place in Minsk, Belarus on October 25, 2013. It’s been reported that the development of tourism will involve improvements in the trade of goods and service, enhance transparency within the legal trading framework as well as reduce the barriers, which hamper trading and pipeline operations within CIS borders. Since the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Ukraine became one of the key stakeholders of Eurasian trade union. In 2013, the commodity turnover between Ukraine and the Members of the CIS block increased by 51 percent and amounted to USD 59 billion, as reported by ITAR-TASS news agency. Russia remains Ukraine’s biggest trading partner among all CIS states as the 2013 bilateral goods turnover estimates reach USD 20.7 billion.
Alongside tourism and pipeline transport the Head of State announced that Ukraine would also conduct international forum on innovation, international conference for small and medium size business development in CIS States and execute a number of projects aimed at fostering international cooperation within the Commonwealth Member States. Interestingly, on December 25, 2013 another cooperation treaty between Ukraine and CIS Member States has been signed. According to the agreement, Ukraine and other CIS Members plan to enhance cooperation in the development of nuclear energy production for civil purposes as well as promote innovation, support and monitoring of atomic energy production. Ukraine’s governing role in the Commonwealth of Independent States will be supported by the Republic of Belarus and Kazakhstan. Notably, Belarus headed CIS in 2013.
Ukrainian Aviation Museum Among Ten World’s Best – CNN
Kyiv, February 10, 2014. Ukraine’s State Aviation Museum is ranked sixth among World’s Best Aviation Museums, reports CNN. The rating includes descriptions and comparisons of 14 aviation museums worldwide. Listed museums display the most remarkable achievements and items of pilots, engineers, designers and eminent passengers of first airplane journeys. Ukraine’s State Museum of Aviation was established in 2003 with only 30 showpieces; however today it is the largest aeronautic museum in the country. On 20 hectares of land the permanent collection embraces over 70 exhibits, including bomber aircrafts, jet fighters, sub- and supersonic aircrafts, missile carriers, commercial and transport planes, helicopters and first unmanned aerial vehicles. The museum features exclusively machines of the Soviet era production. Visitors of the museum are exposed to a wide range of aircrafts from the leading Soviet designers, including Antonov, Illyushin, Tupolev, Yakovlev and others. Additionally, the exhibit features a variety of missiles, used during WWII and the Cold War. The pearl of Ukraine’s State Aviation Museums is Tupolev-104, the first jet aircraft produced in the Soviet Union. Interestingly, Tu-104 was the world’s only jet plane, operated during 1956-1958. “The world’s first jet airliner, the Tupolev-104, made its first passenger flight between Moscow and Irkutsk. This plane is now in the State Aviation Museum of Ukraine, and it’s the oldest surviving aircraft of this type,” reflects Felix Yanovskyi, a professor of Kyiv National Aviation University. Interestingly, the runway of Kyiv International
Airport (Zhuliany) is adjacent to Ukraine’s State Aviation Museum, which enables the visitors to observe landings, take-offs and runway maneuvers of small- and medium-size aircrafts. Additionally, the museum visitors have an opportunity to see interiors of certain aircrafts. Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum of Washington D. C. in the United States heads the rating, reports CNN. Within European space, Imperial War Museum Duxford (Duxford, United Kingdom) is rated number two, French Air and Space Museum (Le Bourget, France) is ranked number five, Polish Aviation Museum (Krakow, Poland) is placed on the eighth place and Central Museum of the Air Forces (Monino, Russia) takes the 13th spot. The rating was carried out by CNN to portray the history of aviation development since the debut of the Wright brothers on December 14, 1903 and the commencement of the first commercial flight, completed from Saint Petersburg, Florida to Tampa, Florida in January 1904. All rated museums present the history of aviation’s development, since the start-off in the early 20th century.
UNESCO Adds Ukrainian Petrykivskyi Rozpys to Intangible Cultural Heritage List
Kyiv, December 6, 2013. Petrykivskyi rozpys became the first Ukrainian phenomenon added to Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list, according to the General Assembly of UNESCO, which took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, on December 5, 2013. Thoroughly analyzed and evaluated by 600 culture experts from 95 countries, Petrykivka decorative painting style became the 8th Ukrainian phenomenon on the UNESCO Cultural Heritage List. Petrykivka decorative painting style is a unique technique of Ukrainian applied art, invented by the citizens of Petrykivka, Dnipropetrovsk region. Petrykivskyi rozpys became an integral part of the village and national culture. The unique style is transferred from one generation to another contributing to the cultural development of Petrykivka community. Initiated in the end of the 19th century, the original folk art style is present in almost every corner of Petrykivka village – houses, household items, musical instruments and clothing. Each local family has at least one member, practicing this original artistic style. Basic and advanced courses of Petrykivka decorative painting are widely available in all kindergartens and schools of the village. Before adding a phenomenon to UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity List, it has to satisfy numerous criteria, for instance “the phenomenon should demonstrate human creative genius and excellent skill, be rooted in the local culture, be a means of affirming a community’s identity and at risk of disappearing” – reports unesco.org.
In January 2013, Petrykivskyi rozpys was established as a local brand and received its logo, which has later contributed to the support of Petrykivka painters and the promotion of culture and tourism in the village. Until December 5, 2013 there was no Ukrainian intangible phenomena represented on the UNESCO list. Nevertheless, Ukraine boasts seven tangible phenomena that have been previously included in the World Heritage List: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings in Kyiv, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra; the Ensemble of the Historic Centre in Lviv; Ancient City of Tauric Chersonese and its Chora in Crimea, etc. Interestingly, besides Petrykivskyi rozpys the 8th UNESCO session has added eleven intangible phenomena to the list. One of them was the widely recognized Turkish tradition and culture of coffee consumption.
Ukrainian Athletes Win Another Leg of Epee Fencer World Championship
Kyiv, January 28, 2014. Ukrainian men’s team spearheaded the Epee Fencer World Championship, which took place in Lignano, Italy. The championship took place on January 24-26 and hosted contestants from 31 countries. On the way to the top, Ukrainian epee fencers defeated teams from Kazakhstan (39:34), Italy (45:35) and Israel (36:30). The final standoff featured fencers from Ukraine and Poland, where only one point separated Ukrainian winners and Polish runner-ups (17:16). Bohdan Nikishin, Dmytro Karyuchenko, Anatoliy Gerei and Igor Reizlin represented Ukrainian team at the championship. “At this important moment, when only one point separates the first and the second place it is important to keep feelings under control, do not get over excited or nervous. It is not pure luck, but hard work behind, that helped us to outstrip Polish contestants,” commented Bogdan Nikishin. The winners list looks like this: Ukraine, Poland, France, Israel, Italy, Switzerland, Venezuela and Czech Republic. Alongside team standoffs, the Lignano tournament hosted individual competitions. Ukrainian contestants Bogdan Nikishyn, 33, from Dnipropetrovsk and Anatoliy Gerei, 24, from Uzhgorod placed 5th and 8th at individual competitions, which took place on January 24-25. The final round distributed top spots of the pedestal to one Korean and two French contestants. Additionally, Ukrainian epee fencer Bogdan
Nikishyn placed third at Epee Fencer Grand Prix Championship in Doha, Qatar as reported the National Fencer Federation of Ukraine on January 16, 2014. Korean and Italian contestants outstripped Ukrainian fencer of a lead position in the final leg of the championship. In August 2013 Ukrainian Women’s saber team spearheaded the MOL World Fencing Championship, held in Budapest, Hungary. Olha Kharlan, Alina Komashchuk and Olena Voronina represented Ukraine’s team at the world championship. The team captain Kharlan had a decisive victory in the ladies’ team sabre becoming the three-time world champion and helping Ukraine win over Russia. Interestingly, Ukrainian saber fencer Olha Kharlan became the best saber fencer of 2013 according to the decision of International Fencing Organization. The award ceremony took place in Paris, France on November 29, 2013.
Ukraine’s Biathlete Wins First Medal for Team Ukraine at Sochi 2014
Kyiv, February 11, 2014. Ukrainian biathlete Vita Semerenko won bronze at Women’s 7.5 kilometer sprint, bringing first medal to Ukraine’s Olympic team. The competition was held on the third day of the Olympic Winter Games on February 9, 2014. Ukrainian athlete outstripped 81 sportsmen and finished third. Vita Semerenko brought the first medal to Ukraine’s Winter Olympic arsenal since XX Olympic Winter Games in Turin, 2006. Finishing with an overall timing of 21:28.5 she hit two out of two targets in prone and standing positions, which secured her a winning spot at the competition. Interestingly, Vita Semerenko held the 54th position at the first kilometer of the ski track. Having covered the first two and a half kilometers she already was 42nd before entering the shooting leg. Notably, within one minute Vita shot the target in prone position and getting ahead of 23 competitors occupied the 19th position at the 7.5 kilometer sprint race. Today, Vita Semerenko holds two bronze medals for 7.5 kilometer sprint race in 2012 and 2013 Biathlon World Cups. Moreover, she was placed third at 15 kilometer individual race in 2011. “The competition was challenging for me. The bronze medal I won shines like gold to me. Despite long and hard preparations for this major-scale competition, I did not expect having a place on Olympic pedestal,” commented Vita Semerenko.
Four contestants represented Ukraine’s team at the competition, including bronze-winner Vita Semerenko, Valentyna Semerenko (12th place), Olena Pidhrushna (26th place), and Yulia Dzhyma (42nd place). Interestingly, sport analysts predict Semerenko sisters to occupy the Olympic pedestal in women’s 10 kilometer pursuit. Slovakian Anastasia Kuzmina won gold at the championship finishing with 21:06.8; she was followed by Russian Olga Vilukhina, who finished 19.9 seconds later. Currently, the result table is headed by Canadian athletes (four gold, three silver and two bronze medals), followed by the Netherlands (three gold, two silver and two bronze medals). Norway (two gold, one silver and four bronze medals) closes the top three list. XXII Winter Olympic Games take place in Russian Sochi during February 7-23, 2014. The event features more than 2,800 athletes from 88 nations worldwide, who compete in 98 events of 15 disciplines of seven sports. Ukraine’s team at the Olympic Games is represented by 43 athletes.