Investors file case over Motor Sich investment
Chinese investors have brought a $3.5 billion arbitration case against Ukraine for blocking the sale of a strategic aircraft engine maker whose fate Washington is closely following. The Chinese investors behind Skyrizon filed the arbitration case earlier this month, accusing Kyiv of expropriating its investment in Motor Sich after the government froze its shares in the company, the Kyiv Post reported December 17. Motor Sich owner Vyacheslav Bohuslayev agreed in 2017 to sell a majority stake in the company to Skyrizon, triggering concerns in Kyiv and Washington over the transfer of its advanced technology to Beijing. Former national-security adviser John Bolton told Ukrainian officials last year during a trip to Ukraine in 2019 that the U.S. opposes the sale of the company to China. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reiterated that message this year. However, Motor Sich needs large-scale investment to stay competitive, and Western companies haven’t shown great interest in buying the Soviet-era company, which employs thousands of workers, putting Washington and Kyiv in a tough position as they seek a solution. The Chinese investors earlier this year renewed their lobbying effort to get Ukraine to unfreeze the shares and, having failed, filed an arbitration case. Ukraine’s bilateral investment treaty with China allows investors to appoint their own arbitrators. Skyrizon could face difficulties proving that it is a private company and that the shares were bought in a legal and transparent matter, the Kyiv Post reported, citing a Ukrainian law firm. (RFE/RL)
Ukraine extends Donbas special status law
Ukrainian lawmakers have approved a bill extending the law on the special status of local self-governance in areas of eastern Ukraine until December 31, 2021. The bill was approved by 304 lawmakers at a Parliament session on December 15. Lawmakers of the Holos (Voice) and Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) political parties did not take part in the vote. The legislation was first adopted in September 2014 for a period of three years after Russia incited an insurgency in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, generally known as the Donbas, where more than 13,200 people have been killed in the ongoing conflict since. Weeks before inciting separatism in the region, Russia forcibly annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula after sending in troops and staging a referendum that was deemed illegitimate by more than 100 countries. The law has been prolonged three times since then and was set to expire on December 31, 2020. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Russian invasion of Ukraine
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense reported December 22 that in the previous 24 hours, no Ukrainian soldiers were killed, although two Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in action. During the same 24-hour period, Russian-terrorist forces opened fire on Ukrainian positions in the Luhansk and Donetsk sectors of the front 11 times in total, including at least seven times with heavy weapons – mortars and artillery. On December 21, Ukraine’s Joint Forces Operation reported that on December 17 a Ukrainian soldier was taken into captivity by Russian forces. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress Daily Briefing)
Ukraine mulling response to new COVID-19 strain
A decision on further action by Ukraine in connection with the detection of a new strain of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Great Britain will be made after analyzing the situation and consulting with foreign partners, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said. According to the ministry’s press service, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, together with other public departments, is closely monitoring the situation with the detection of the new strain of COVID-19 disease in the U.K. “A decision on further actions of Ukraine will be adopted after a comprehensive analysis of the situation and consultations with foreign partners,” the ministry said. It is also noted that Ukrainian diplomats are in close contact with foreign governments that have suspended flights from the U.K. At the same time, the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Ukraine recommends that Ukrainian citizens temporarily refrain from traveling to London and southeast England. Ukrainians who are already in the areas of the U.K. that are most affected by COVID-19 are advised to be careful, comply with the requirements of local authorities and follow information on the website https://tripadvisor.mfa.gov.ua/. (Interfax Ukraine)
Philip Morris files suit against Ukraine
Philip Morris International (PMI) has filed a lawsuit for bilateral investment arbitration against the government of Ukraine in connection with the decision of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) to fine them UAH 1.2 billion in the case of the wholesale distributor Tedis Ukraine, according to a press release from PMI. “The decision of the committee is a clear violation of the investor’s rights. We believe that this dispute between the investor and the state will have an extremely negative impact on the investment attractiveness of Ukraine, as well as on the country’s reputation as a whole,” said Kostas Salvaras, the CEO of Philip Morris Ukraine. The lawsuit was filed on December 21 in Washington at the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes. According to PMI, in 2010-2011 the AMCU allowed Tedis to gain control over the majority of tobacco wholesalers, but in 2019 the same committee decided that PMI’s Ukrainian subsidiaries and other global tobacco producers and Tedis colluded for the sake of Tedis’ establishing a monopoly on the market. “The committee’s decision violated the rights of PMI companies in accordance with the agreements between the United States and Ukraine and between Switzerland and Ukraine on a fair and equitable treatment of their investments in Ukraine and protection from arbitrary and discriminatory actions due to harm,” the PMI statement reads. The company also called AMCU’s actions illegal, illogical and arbitrary. (Interfax Ukraine)
Ukraine records 8,513 new COVID-19 cases
On December 22, 8,513 new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) disease were recorded in Ukraine, while 14,020 people officially recovered on that day and 232 patients died, according to the Health Minister of Ukraine Maksym Stepanov. “Some 8,513 new cases of COVID-19 disease were recorded in Ukraine as of December 22. In particular, 415 children and 368 medical workers fell ill. Some 1,318 people were hospitalized, 232 people died and 14,020 recovered over the past day,” Mr. Stepanov wrote on his Facebook page. A day earlier, on December 21, 6,545 cases of COVID-19 were recorded, 8,325 new cases were reported on December 20, and there were 11,742 cases on December 19, while 12,630 new cases of the disease were reported on December 18. There have been 979,506 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ukraine since the beginning of the pandemic. Of that number, 16,897 people have died and 600,288 people recovered. The largest number of confirmed cases on December 22 was registered in Kyiv (1,159), Dnipropetrovsk (992), Odesa (914) and Zaporizhia (665). (Interfax Ukraine)
Documentary on COVID-19 filmed in Ukraine
The first full-length documentary film about coronavirus in the post-Soviet space was shot in Ukraine. According to a press release for the documentary – “COVID-2019: Exiting the Red Zone” – the film took just over two months to make and was shot in the genre of an “expedition film.” The plot is based on the stories of 65 people, including medical workers, volunteers, ambulance drivers, entrepreneurs, employees, as well as patients and relatives of patients with COVID-19. The film crew visited 15 reference hospitals working with COVID-19 patients, as well as three intensive care units, where critically ill patients with serious complications were treated. Shooting took place in Kyiv, Kramatorsk, Kryvy Rih, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa and Cherkasy. (Interfax Ukraine)
Zelenskyy on U.S.-Ukraine relationship
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is convinced that Ukrainian-American relations can be strengthened thanks to newly elected U.S. President Joe Biden’s deep relations with Ukraine before his presidency, the press service of the Ukrainian president’s office said. “President-elect Joe Biden … even before his presidency he had, so to speak, deep relations with Ukraine and understands Russians well, understands the difference between Ukraine and Russia well and I think understands the mentality of Ukrainians well. This will greatly help strengthen these relations and give a boost to the settlement of the issue of the war in Donbas and the de-occupation of our territories. I think the U.S. can add a lot to that,” Mr. Zelenskyy said in an interview with The New York Times. According to Mr. Zelenskyy, residents of the United States themselves will not allow anti-Ukrainian rhetoric from anyone who represents the American government. “America is actually showing its support, and we are grateful for the sanctions policy – it is serious. Both the Crimean sanctions and Nord Stream were strategically important for us. And it was very difficult,” the Ukrainian president said. With regard to Nord Stream, the United States “played the key role here,” Mr. Zelenskyy said. “So, I have to thank the United States and the Trump administration for that. I am grateful that Ukraine has become a NATO Enhanced Opportunities Partner, for all the sanctions against Russia, and for training with NATO. Our relationship does not end. As for the economy, I think that these relations were not enough,” the president said. Mr. Zelenskyy added that Mr. Biden’s messages regarding the concept of a global strategic vision of security in Europe are important for Ukraine. “Because if we talk about security in Europe, the only war in Europe today is the war in Donbas. This is a war, a war of Ukraine,” he said. (Interfax Ukraine)
Internet portal will document crimes in Donbas
The office of the president of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (ARC), the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office, the Ukrainian Center of National Remembrance, the International Renaissance Foundation and the Prometheus Environmental Security Research Center signed a memorandum of cooperation that provides for the creation of an Internet portal to document the facts regarding crimes committed in the occupied territories of Crimea and the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. “Everyone’s right to know the truth about the events of the occupation of Crimea is, of course, one of the most important and mandatory elements of our work in this direction,” said permanent representative of the president of Ukraine in the ARC Anton Korynevych, according to the press service of the office of the president of Ukraine. It is envisaged that the portal will publish a variety of data, including eyewitness accounts, archival sources, media information, decisions and resolutions of international organizations, photos and videos. Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Gunduz Mammedov recalled that since 2014 the law enforcement agencies of Ukraine and the prosecutor’s office have been recording and investigating crimes committed in the occupied territories of Ukraine. They have currently documented more than 20,000 crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity. Executive Director of the International Renaissance Foundation Oleksandr Sushko added that the creation of such a portal would allow Ukraine to more systematically convey information about crimes and incidents in the occupied territories to the international community. “The materials of the prosecutor’s office [in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea] have documented numerous crimes: premeditated killings, abductions, torture, persecution, hundreds of illegal searches and detentions of Ukrainian citizens on racial, religious and political grounds. Therefore, it is very important that society has the opportunity to obtain objective information of events in Crimea after the occupation, to know the truth about the real situation with human rights and in relation to other areas that were influenced by the occupation, in particular, the protection of cultural heritage, ecology, the militarization of the peninsula, appropriation of public and private property, etc.,” said Ihor Ponochovny, the head of the prosecutor’s office of the ARC and the city of Sevastopol. (Interfax Ukraine)
Russia further limits press, work of NGOs
The Russian parliament’s lower chamber has approved several controversial bills that human rights watchdogs and the opposition have said undermine democratic processes. Among the legislation approved by the State Duma on December 23 was a series of amendments to the controversial law on “foreign agents” that requires organizations that have received the designation to report their activities and face financial audits. The changes expand the scope of individuals and groups that can be designated “foreign agents,” introduce new restrictions and registration and reporting requirements, and oblige the media to note the designation whenever they mention these individuals or groups. The new law says individuals, including foreign journalists, involved in Russia’s political developments or collecting materials and data related to Russia’s defense or national security issues must be included on the list of foreign agents. It also says that individuals labeled as “foreign agents” would be banned from joining the civil service or holding a municipal government position, while forcing them to mark their letters to authorities and other material with a “foreign agent” label. Last month, Amnesty International slammed the proposed legislation saying it would “drastically limit and damage the work not only of civil society organizations that receive funds from outside Russia but many other groups as well.” Another bill related to “foreign agents” and approved on December 23 lays out a punishment of up to five years in prison for individuals or organizations labeled as foreign agents who fail to inform official entities about their status, and/or refuse to report their activities to Russian authorities. The “foreign agent” law, originally passed in 2012, requires designated organizations to report their activities and face financial audits. Critics say the law has been arbitrarily applied to target Russian civil society organizations, human rights defenders, and political activists, including outspoken Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation. A further measure designating foreign-funded media as “foreign agents” was adopted in 2017, under which Russia’s Justice Ministry listed several services of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Current Time, and Voice of America (VOA) as “foreign agents.” Current Time is the Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo in August warned that the upcoming amendments to the law on “foreign agents” would “impose new burdensome requirements” on RFE/RL’s operations in Russia as well as on VOA’s. “We’ve condemned it. We’ve also imposed enormous sanctions on Russia for other elements of their malign activity,” Pompeo said. “We hope that the rest of the world will join us in this. We hope that those nations that value the freedom of press, who want independent reporters to be able to ask questions, even if sometimes leaders don’t like them, will join with us.” The State Duma also approved in a final reading on December 23 a bill that would allow the state media regulator, Roskomnadzor, to block websites that “discriminate against Russian media.” Roskomnadzor would be allowed to partially, fully restrict, or slow access to websites found in violation of the law. The bill is seen affecting major social-media websites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. The State Duma also approved a bill on introducing jail terms for people found guilty of making slanderous comments on the Internet or in the media. All of the bills approved on December 23 must still be approved by the parliament’s upper chamber, the Federation Council, before they are endorsed into law by President Vladimir Putin. (RFE/RL, with reporting by TASS and Interfax)