ANALYTICAL REVIEW OF THE MOST IMPORTANT DOMESTIC, FOREIGN POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC EVENTS OF THE WEEK
28.06. - 04.07.2021
CONTENT:
SUMMARY AND KEY TRENDS.
INTERNAL POLICY.
1. The Parliament of Ukraine adopted a bill on judicial reform.
2. The Law on National Resistance was adopted in the first reading.
3. The situation around the peaceful settlement in the Donbass.
4. The bill on oligarchs was adopted in the first reading.
5. Adopted a law on indigenous peoples.
FOREIGN POLICY.
1. Direct Line with Vladimir Putin. Main theses and conclusions.
2. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party.
3. Telephone conversation between Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin.
ECONOMY.
1. Strengthening of responsibility for inaccurate declaration of property and capital by deputies.
2. The land purchase tax will be 6.5%.
3. Strengthening control over the banking system by increasing "transparency".
4. Rada banned ARMA from selling property without a court decision.
SUMMARY AND KEY TRENDS.
Summing up the results of the outgoing week, we note that:
First, in the domestic policy of Ukraine this week, as part of the trend of confrontation between the Office of the President and external players for influence on the country's judicial system, the parliament adopted a bill on judicial reform, taking into account the amendment providing that the right to a decisive vote in the formation of the High Qualification Commission of Judges (VKKS) will be owned by international experts.
Secondly, as part of the trend to imitate de-oligarchization, a law on oligarchs was adopted in the first reading, the main provisions of which indicate significant risks that the process of de-oligarchization in Ukraine can take place selectively, contributing to the usual elimination of political and economic competitors, as well as forcing representatives big business to make various kinds of agreements with the authorities.
Thirdly, the role and functions of the President in the power bloc are strengthening. In the first reading, a law on national resistance was adopted. Under the pretext of an external threat, V. Zelensky, in fact, creates his army for budgetary funds.
Fourth, foreign policy has once again confirmed the understanding of the Russian and Chinese sides of the fact that their confrontation with the United States and other NATO countries is an objective and inevitable reality that will remain relevant for a long time to come. This is evidenced both by the statements made by Vladimir Putin during the direct line with the citizens of the Russian Federation, and by the statements of Xi Jingping at the celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the CCP. The Russian and Chinese leaders made it clear that their countries are ready for confrontation with the West, and their armies are ready, if necessary, to repulse any attacks of their opponents.
Fifth, the desire of Germany and France to establish closer and more productive interaction with Moscow (including at the level of EU structures) is again making itself felt. This week, it was revealed in a telephone conversation between Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin, during which the French President tried to use the dominant Western discourse on strategic stability to forge closer relations with the Russian Federation.
Sixth, the President is strengthening his influence on the deputy corps by tightening anti-corruption legislation in terms of declaring the property and capital of the relatives of the deputies.
Seventh, the NBU will receive additional powers to control the management of banks by identifying "related parties" and anyone planning to acquire a significant part of the bank's shares.
INTERNAL POLICY.
Briefly:
In the domestic policy of Ukraine this week, as part of the trend of confrontation between the Office of the President and external players for influence on the country's judicial system, the parliament adopted a bill on judicial reform, taking into account the amendment providing that the right to a decisive vote in the formation of the High Qualification Commission of Judges (VKKS) will be belong to international experts.
As part of the trend to imitate de-oligarchization, a law on oligarchs was adopted in the first reading, the main provisions of which indicate significant risks that the process of de-oligarchization in Ukraine can take place selectively, contributing to the usual elimination of political and economic competitors, as well as forcing representatives of big business to agree to various kinds of agreements with the authorities.
The role and functions of the president in the power bloc are also strengthening. In the first reading, a law on national resistance was adopted. Under the pretext of an external threat, V. Zelensky, in fact, creates his army for budgetary funds.
1. The Parliament of Ukraine adopted a bill on judicial reform.
On June 29, the Verkhovna Rada adopted in the second reading draft law No. 3711-d on amendments to the law of Ukraine "On the Judicial System and the Status of Judges" and some laws of Ukraine regarding the resumption of the work of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, it was supported by 293 people's deputies. In fact, the law should introduce international control over the process of forming the High Qualification Commission of Judges. Its acceptance is very important before V. Zelensky to US President D. Biden.
When considering the bill, amendment No. 453 was taken into account, which provides that international experts will have a decisive vote in the formation of the High Qualification Commission of Judges. The adoption of such a norm was demanded by the Venice Commission and the IMF. Despite the fact that the amendment was rejected by the committee, it was still “pushed through” to please the western partners.
According to the amendment, the first composition of the competition committee for the selection of VKKS will begin work, provided that at least four members are appointed, of which two were proposed by international organizations. The decision will be considered adopted if at least 4 members of the commission vote for it, two of whom are representatives of international organizations. But the most important thing is that if there is an equal number of votes "for" and "against", the votes of three members of the competition commission will be decisive, of which two are international experts. This means that if the votes for a candidate are divided three by three, the winner will be determined by "international experts". Which will determine the composition of the VKKS.
In turn, the US Embassy in Ukraine expressed its approval for the adoption of Law 3711-D, they expect the publication of the text of the document and urge further adoption of the law on the GSP.
The members of the competition committee will be appointed by the VSP. The commission will include: three persons from among the judges or retired judges proposed by the Council of Judges; one each from the Councils of Prosecutors, Lawyers and the National Academy of Legal Sciences.
Earlier, the US and EU were concerned about the course of judicial reform in Ukraine. Parliament called for the second reading to agree on bills with the conclusions of the Venice Commission, where it was considered necessary to restart judicial self-government bodies as soon as possible and create a mixed national-international body - a competition commission to select new members of the VKKS. At the same time, the VKKS should not be associated with the High Council of Justice (SCJ) - until the latter is reformed and is not selected.
At the same time, the Center for Combating Corruption noted that the adopted version of the law contains an amendment by the head of the relevant committee, Andrei Kostin, according to which the decision of the competition committee is made by a majority vote, subject to the support of at least two independent experts and two judges. And this means that the judges of the competition commission will be able to block any decisions. Therefore, according to the CPC, the final question of who will receive the decisive vote in the formation of the VKKS - "either international affairs, or judicial clans" - will be decided during the technical and legal elaboration of the law.
The presence of two mutually exclusive amendments in the adopted law may mean that, contrary to the requirements, the representatives of the Ukrainian authorities do not want to completely surrender control over the judicial system to their international partners. Understanding that in this case they are unlikely to be able to manage the processes in the country, the OP is trying to leave certain opportunities for itself in the judicial sphere.
2. The Law on National Resistance was adopted in the first reading.
On June 29, the Verkhovna Rada in the first reading adopted the presidential bill No. 5557 "On the foundations of national resistance." The deputies also halved the time frame for preparing the bill for the second reading.
The very idea of the bill is due to the fact that the forces of maintenance, provided there is a lack of budgetary funds for the maintenance of a large army in constant combat readiness, can play an important role in ensuring the security of the country.
According to the bill, national resistance is an integral part of the comprehensive defense of Ukraine. And it includes a set of measures to involve citizens in ensuring military security. Components of national resistance are territorial defense (TO), within the framework of which it is also possible to create volunteer formations of territorial communities that are allowed to use their own weapons.
The bill, in fact, proposes to create another branch of the Armed Forces of Ukraine - the territorial defense force. Legalize the militias of the UTO ("terrorist forces") and partisans ("resistance movement"); provide the militia and partisans with benefits of servicemen, the right to use weapons and infrastructure of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the right to use personal hunting weapons, the functions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Security Service of Ukraine - the protection of public order, protection of infrastructure facilities, regulation of road traffic, implementation of emergency measures.
This branch of the military should be directly subordinate to the President of Ukraine - the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
The territory of Ukraine is divided into zones (regions) and areas of territorial defense (TO), in each of which a brigade or TO battalion can be created - 25 brigades and 136 battalions - the total number of soldiers can reach 140 thousand people.
A parallel AFU management structure (headquarters) is created, and the heads of local administrations lead the TO forces and become "governor-generals."
Financing of the TO forces should be carried out at the expense of the state budget of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as the budgets of local councils, “and other their sources ".
As we wrote earlier, under the pretext of an external threat, V. Zelensky is creating his army for budgetary funds. In this way, the OP strives to weaken the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov, under whose leadership, in most cases, volunteer battalions were previously created. Now they are planned to be created under the leadership of the president and appointed local officials. In essence, this strengthens the role and functions of the president in the power bloc, and also creates conditions for the emergence of "Municipal guards" - local power structures that will serve the regional elites and replace the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Service of Ukraine and other power structures; or defend radical party interests.
3. The situation around the peaceful settlement in the Donbass.
This week, it became known that representatives of the "LPNR" Natalya Nikanorova and Vladislav Deinogo asked the Russian leadership to organize a meeting of political advisers within the framework of the "Normandy format" and to include the US and representatives of the "LPNR" in this meeting. At the same time, representatives of the "LPNR" accused Ukraine of the negotiation crisis.
In turn, the Minister for the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov categorically denies this option. The presence of the "LDNR" at the meeting of the "Normandy Four" and the United States is completely out of the question.
It is worth noting that in Ukraine, the authorities are beginning to form an opinion in society that the implementation of the Minsk agreements is unrealistic. In parallel, the need for the reintegration of the uncontrolled territories as such is being questioned.
In the situation with the representatives of the "LPNR" there is a demonstrative demonstration by the Russian side of its readiness to negotiate even with the Americans, so that Ukraine would fulfill the Minsk agreements.
It is also important for Russia to legitimize the “DPR” and “LPR” as parties to the “internal Ukrainian conflict”, to show that they are warring parties. At the same time, the real likelihood that the meeting between the United States and the "LPNR" - "Normandy format" can take place contrary to the position of Ukraine is extremely small, which is also realized in the Kremlin.
Despite the indicative demonstration to the world community of readiness for a peaceful settlement, in fact, the approaches to resolving the issue of Ukraine and Russia are becoming more and more distant. Neither side wants to give up its positions to the opponent.
While in the Office of the President of Ukraine they say that the head of the Russian Federation is incorrectly informed about the situation in Ukraine, and his "fake about external management" does not deserve separate comments, and again they propose negotiations, the Kremlin harshly criticizes the law on the indigenous peoples of Ukraine and declare that there is currently no talk of any preparation for the meeting of the presidents of Russia and Ukraine.
4. The bill on oligarchs was adopted in the first reading.
On July 1, parliament passed in the first reading Bill # 5599, known as the "Oligarch Bill". 275 people's deputies voted “for”. In particular, 231 deputies from Servant of the People, 18 from Trust, and 18 from For the Future.
Members of the European Solidarity and Golos factions voted "Against". "OPZZH" and "Batkivshchyna" abstained. At the same time, the deputies failed to vote to speed up the procedure for considering the law.
The bill was supported by deputies close to I. Kolomoisky. This is probably due to the fact that due to US sanctions and fears of their strengthening, I. Kolomoisky expresses loyalty to Zelensky, supporting his key initiatives before the trip to D. Biden, during which, it is possible that the issue of I. Kolomoisky will be discussed.
In this edition, the bill proposes to define the oligarch as "a person who has significant economic or political weight in public life, and at the same time meets at least three criteria": to participate in political life, to have significant influence on the media, to be a monopolist in the nationwide commodity market and own assets worth more than 1 million living wages.
As we wrote earlier, the criteria for defining "oligarchs" are presented in the law rather vaguely and can be applied selectively. Accordingly, the norms of the law can be challenged in courts.
A person will be recognized as an oligarch by decision of the National Security and Defense Council at the suggestion of a member of the National Security and Defense Council, the Cabinet of Ministers, the SBU, the National Bank and the Antimonopoly Committee. The regulation on the formation of the Register of Oligarchs is also approved by the NSDC, which basically will act as a regulator of all issues.
For a person to be struck off the register, he must stop falling under at least two signs of an oligarch. If the oligarch has withdrawn from himself the criteria, he submits an application to the NSDC, and he considers it. This may be followed by exclusion from the register.
This state of affairs will force big business to make various behind-the-scenes agreements with the authorities in order not to be included in this list.
It is not surprising that among the main groups of influence and parties, the law on oligarchs does not enjoy support, since it is generally perceived not as an instrument of struggle with the oligarchs, but as a way to pressure the President's Office on them to be loyal.
Characteristically, the Golos party, which is close to the West, did not support the bill either.
Despite the fact that the government team is trying to provide the law on oligarchs to Western partners as an imitation of the de-oligarchization process, it is likely that they do not seek to provide V. Zelensky with such leverage either.
The bill does not bode well for the oligarchs. Rather, it will serve as a means of discrediting those influential persons who do not participate in political processes on the side of the current government.
5. Adoption of a law on indigenous peoples.
This week, parliament adopted Bill 5506 "On the Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine", which was introduced by the President and identified by him as urgent.
The law states that the indigenous people are "an autochthonous ethnic community formed on the territory of Ukraine." She is a bearer of a distinctive language and culture, has traditional, social, cultural or representative bodies, recognizes herself as an indigenous people of Ukraine, is an ethnic minority in the population and has no state education outside Ukraine.
The law separately spelled out the concept of the indigenous peoples of the Crimea - these are the Crimean Tatars, Karaites and Krymchaks. All 3 "Crimean" peoples have an impact on public opinion in Crimea and receive additional rights:
1. Financing of their representative bodies at the expense of the state budget, the ability to create schools with instruction in the native language, national media with broadcasting in the native language and state support, permanent representation in government bodies, and so on;
2. Part of the revenues of local budgets and the use of natural resources of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.
In fact, after the adoption of this law, in Ukraine there is officially a division of the problem of the rights of national minorities into 3 groups:
1. Indigenous peoples (support);
2. Minorities of EU countries (bidding and dialogue);
3. All the rest - more than 100, which include Russians and other peoples (neutral relations, or pushing towards assimilation through discrimination).
Russians were not included among the indigenous peoples. For which the law was harshly criticized by the Russian leadership. They believe that Ukraine makes Russians second-class citizens.
Also in response to the Ukrainian initiative, a bill appeared in the Russian State Duma on the distribution of Russian passports to Ukrainian citizens (regardless of nationality) according to a simplified procedure.
It is worth saying that the Law has primarily political goals, including increasing the loyalty of the leaders of the Crimean Tatar people to the Ukrainian government (now they are financed by the state).
The adoption of this law fits into the framework of the preparation of the Ukrainian authorities for the launch of the "Crimean Platform" - an international platform that will discuss issues of uncontrolled Crimea.
Also, the law on indigenous peoples can be a kind of response to the EU, which demanded that the Ukrainian authorities change the discriminatory laws on education and the Ukrainian language. The Venice Commission directly pointed to the infringement of educational rights, including those of Russians, on the territory of Ukraine.
FOREIGN POLICY.
Briefly:
In the outgoing week, two important trends have shown themselves in international politics.
The first of them is a demonstration of the understanding of the Russian and Chinese sides of the fact that their confrontation with the United States and other NATO countries is an objective and inevitable reality that will remain relevant for a long time to come. This is evidenced both by the statements made by Vladimir Putin during the direct line with the citizens of the Russian Federation, and by the statements of Xi Jingping at the celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the CCP. The Russian and Chinese leaders made it clear that their countries are ready for confrontation with the West, and their armies are ready, if necessary, to repulse any attacks of their opponents.
The second trend is the desire of Germany and France to establish closer and more productive interaction with Moscow (including at the level of EU structures). This week, it manifested itself in a telephone conversation between Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin, during which the French President tried to use the dominant Western discourse on "strategic stability" to describe a set of issues regarding which dialogue with the Russian Federation continues.
1. Direct Line with Vladimir Putin. Main theses and conclusions.
On June 30, Vladimir Putin held a direct line with the citizens of Russia. The President was asked about vaccinations, gasification, dilapidated housing, water problems, loan programs and much more.
Putin also spoke in detail about the Ukrainian agenda. He told why he did not include Ukraine in the list of unfriendly peoples. He spoke about the meeting with Vladimir Zelensky. He provided details of the incident with the British destroyer in Crimea. He shared his expectations from US policy. He talked about climate issues and his successor. He promised the LDNR vaccine and more.
The main theses of Vladimir Putin on the topic of Ukraine, Eastern Europe and NATO can be summarized as follows:
• Ukrainians and Russians are one people, and for this reason, Ukraine is not included in the list of unfriendly countries created by the Russian Federation.
• Putin once again noted that the law on indigenous peoples, adopted by the Ukrainian parliament, violates the rights of Russians in Ukraine.
• Putin has nothing to talk with Vladimir Zelensky, since the Ukrainian president has surrendered sovereignty over his country to the United States and partly to Germany and France. Putin did not categorically deny the possibility of meeting with Zelensky, but stressed that there was nothing to talk about at this meeting.
• The Russian president called the approach of the British destroyer to the coast of Crimea a coordinated British-American provocation, since in addition to the British ship, an American reconnaissance aircraft participated in the operation. Putin also said that there was no "threat of the Third World War" during this incident and it would not have started even if the Russian security forces had sunk the British ship. Putin also noted the invariability of the course of the NATO countries towards confrontation with the Russian Federation.
• The Russian president noted that most of all in the "Ukrainian issue" he is worried about "the beginning of the military development of the territory of Ukraine by NATO forces." He also hinted that if it continues, Russian troops may again be concentrated on the Ukrainian borders, as happened this spring.
The rest of the answers to the questions that Vladimir Putin gave during the direct line concerned mainly the domestic policy of Russia.
As for the above theses, several conclusions follow from them.
First, the Ukrainian leadership in the Kremlin is considered dependent on the United States and incapable of negotiating. Therefore, one should not count on a meeting between V. Putin and V. Zelensky in the foreseeable future. Even if Russia is going to come to an agreement about Ukraine, it will only be with the United States.
Secondly, the Russian authorities realize and demonstrate that the new Cold War with the United States and its allies is a long-term trend and are not deceived by the more or less favorable atmosphere at the last meeting between Putin and Biden.
Thirdly, the deployment of NATO military facilities on the territory of Ukraine is a "red line" for Russia, upon which it is ready to use all available means to suppress such activities, including the military.
Also on July 2, the Russian Federation adopted a new National Security Strategy, which states:
- the transition of the world to a multipolar device;
- an attempt to preserve the hegemony of the Western country, the growing role of transnational companies is determined by the factors of the crisis of the world order;
- the risks of a new cold war and ignorance of fundamental human rights and freedoms;
- the use of the ecological factor as a tool of protectionism and unfair competition;
- an increase in the threat of the escalation of local conflicts into regional wars;
- methods of provoking internal instability in the Russian Federation are used by unfriendly countries;
- the armed forces of unfriendly states are practicing attacks on objects of the critical information infrastructure of the Russian Federation;
- the basic moral and cultural norms of society are subjected to a destructive effect, freedom of the individual is made absolute, an impact is made on the consciousness of young people;
- the traditional foundations of Russian society are being attacked by the United States and its allies, TNCs, foreign non-governmental, religious, terrorist organizations;
- Westernization of culture and the threat of loss of cultural sovereignty.
2. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party.
On July 1, Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed Tiananmen Square during a ceremony marking the centenary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, which is celebrated on a grand scale in China. The loudest part of Xi's speech was an appeal to the enemies of the Celestial Empire.
Literally, the President of the PRC stated the following:
“We are actively studying and borrowing all the useful achievements of human civilization, we welcome all useful suggestions and benevolent criticism. But we absolutely do not accept any teachings from any arrogant clever people. The Chinese people do not accept attempts by external forces to oppress, oppress and enslave them. And whoever decides to try it will hit the 1.4 billion iron wall of flesh and blood of the Chinese people and smash his head. "
It is noteworthy that while earlier (say, 5 years ago) the Chinese leadership in its rhetoric focused on "mutually beneficial development and peaceful coexistence" with other countries, now it has come to understand that the new "Cold War" with the West is a reality that cannot be changed by any diplomatic effort. The reasons for this state of affairs are objective and determined by geopolitics and economics.
In this regard, Xi Jingping's speech on the 100th anniversary of the CCP should be taken as a message to Washington in the spirit of "We accept the battle."
3. Telephone conversation between Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin.
On July 3, the press service of the Elysee Palace reported that French President Emmanuel Macron, during a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin called for the establishment of a trusting relationship between Russia and the European Union.
The leaders reportedly discussed the need to continue a structured dialogue on strategic stability on the European continent.
The French head stressed that Paris is striving to increase the level of trust in relations with Moscow.
Earlier, Macron announced that he had reached a consensus with Germany on the approach to relations with Russia.
As we wrote last week, the leaderships of Germany and France are interested in improving relations with Russia (not only at the level of national governments, but also at the level of EU structures) for two reasons. Firstly, economic interaction with Moscow is beneficial to them, and secondly, diversification of foreign policy contacts will allow Berlin and Paris to pursue a more sovereign policy towards the United States.
In this regard, it is not surprising that the French side uses the topic of “strategic stability”, which is dominant in Western political discourse after Biden's meeting with Putin, as a pretext for establishing contacts with Moscow.
However, most of the EU countries, as well as the Brussels bureaucracy, which are under strong American influence, are still opposed to the intensification of contacts with Moscow at the unification level. Therefore, in the foreseeable future, most likely, Paris and Berlin will develop more active relations with Moscow at the national level.
ECONOMY.
Briefly:
The President is strengthening his influence on the parliamentary corps by tightening anti-corruption legislation in terms of declaring the property and capital of the relatives of the deputies.
The NBU will receive additional powers to control the management of banks by identifying “related parties” and anyone planning to acquire a significant portion of the bank's shares.
1. Strengthening of responsibility for inaccurate declaration of property and capital by deputies.
On June 29, parliament voted in favor of bill # 4651, which toughens criminal liability for lying in declarations. The full title of the bill is “On Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses of Ukraine, the Criminal Code of Ukraine regarding the improvement of responsibility for declaring false information and the entity's failure to submit a declaration of a person authorized to perform the functions of the state or local government”.
The President proposes to mitigate responsibility for the failure to submit a declaration by a person authorized to perform the functions of the state or local self-government from 2 to 1 year in prison (Article 366, paragraph 3). Clause 2 of the same article, on the contrary, tightens control over the relatives of deputies and officials, since it prohibits not declaring their property.
On June 3, parliament voted in favor of a different version of the bill # 4651, which left loopholes allowing not to declare the property of relatives. On June 15, the president returned the bill for revision, which ended with a vote on June 29.
Declaration of income by deputies and other officials was a requirement of the EU to Ukraine, which sought to obtain a visa-free regime. Criminal liability for failure to declare or inaccurate declaration is an instrument of subordination of the deputy corps and other officials, given the unconfirmed information about alleged salaries in envelopes for deputies for “correct” voting in the Verkhovna Rada. Thus, the tightening of liability for inaccurate declaration is a step towards the consolidation of power in the hands of the President and the Office of the President, which is complemented by the establishment of positions of prefects, and given the President's interference in the work of the Constitutional Court in 2020, the Office of the President seeks to subordinate all three branches of government.
2. The land purchase tax will be 6.5%.
On June 25, on its official Facebook page, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine clarified the tax component when buying land after the launch of the land market on July 1, 2021. In total, land buyers have to pay in excess of the value of the land plus 6.5 percent (5% personal income tax and 1.5% military tax). A similar logic works when buying an apartment (5% personal income tax and 1.5% military tax) and a car.
The American company Cision predicts almost 50 percent growth in the global land market in just the next 4 years - from $ 2.7 trillion in 2021 to $ 3.7 trillion in total by 2025. Considering that agricultural land is a limited commodity on a global scale and given a high level of its development, such a growth is possible only through the inclusion of countries such as Ukraine in the global land market. Moreover, the current players in the Ukrainian land market will be able to resell it at a multiply increased cost to international players after 2024, which fully coincides with the forecast of the Cision company.
3. Strengthening control over the banking system by increasing "transparency".
On June 30, the Parliament adopted in the second reading and in general project No. 4367, which will improve the quality of the NBU's performance of its functions in the field of banking regulation. This law is an important condition in the framework of the IMF stand-by financing program, according to D. Getmantsev.
The Ukrainian government is strengthening its control over the social class of bank owners by introducing the concept of “tied personality”, which can influence the bank in an “off-market” way. The NBU has the right to find out the connections of people who may be potentially connected with the bank. Control over the bank's management and individual managers responsible for internal audit is being strengthened. The NBU may prohibit banks from buying their own shares (shares). If someone is preparing to buy a significant part of the bank's shares, this person is obliged to notify the NBU of his decision.
The banking system as a whole is becoming more centralized and directly controlled by the NBU, giving it new powers in terms of monitoring and tracking the links between de facto beneficiaries of the bank. The social class of bank owners will respond with more complex schemes with a large number of intermediaries (dummies). Only the inevitability of punishment can really improve the situation with the prevention of "bankruptcy" in the future.
4. Rada banned ARMA from selling property without a court decision.
On June 30, the Verkhovna Rada in the first reading adopted bill No. 5141 on the reform of the Agency for the Search and Management of Assets (ARMA).
According to the initiator of the bill, deputy head of the Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy Galina Yanchenko, now ARMA has turned into an instrument of “legal raiding”, because it can sell someone else's property without a court decision, sometimes even before the investigation is completed. While the owner of the property is fighting in court for his constitutionally protected property right and proves that he acquired the property legally, ARMA manages to sell it.
The bill provides for a ban on the sale of assets by the agency without a court verdict, specifies the procedure for the storage and management of property, which today ARMA interprets at its own discretion. In addition, it allows asset owners to independently file a properly certified court order to cancel the seizure in order to return the property to its rightful owners.
The very next day after voting in the Rada for reforming ARMA - July 1, it transferred part of the Samara-Western Direction (Medvedchuk's Pipe) oil product pipeline to Ukrtransnafta for 5 years. in relation to the “pro-Russian” opposition in the person of Viktor Medvedchuk and property allegedly connected with him. Recall that the newly formed Supreme Anti-Corruption Court (VAKS) on February 24, 2021 arrested part of the Samara-Western direction oil pipeline (“Medvedchuk's pipe”), then this property was transferred to state ownership, and from July 1 - to the management of "Uktransnafta".
Edited by:
Ruslan Bortnik,
Daniil Bogatyrev.
Authors:
Daniil Bogatyrev,
Oksana Krasovskaya,
Andrey Timchenko.
