Tymoshenko.ua

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has sent a government telegram to Vladimir Putin asking the Russian Prime Minister to pass along her condolences to the families of the victims of the accident involving the Nevsky Express train.

"On behalf of the Ukrainian government and me personally, please express our condolences to the families and friends of the deceased and wishes for a quick recovery to the injured," reads the telegram.

The Nevsky Express train traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg derailed on Friday night, November 27, near the border of the Tver and Novgorod regions of Russia. According to preliminary information, 25-39 people died and 96 were hospitalized. Approximately 20 are unaccounted for.

Tymoshenko.ua

Naftogaz Ukraine assures that Russia’s Gasprom will not impose fines for the shortage of natural gas orders in 2009.

"In Moscow we signed (with Gazprom) an addendum to the gas contract which entails a decrease in volumes for 2009 and confirmed gas volumes for 2010. Thus we don’t have a gas order shortage and we have clearly outlined gas amounts for 2010 so that when the whole country exhorted that we’ll get fined, today these topics don’t exist," announced today Oleh Dubyna, head of Naftohaz Ukraine at a press conference.

He explained that in 2009, gas consumption dropped by 40% due to the financial crisis and fall in industrial production. "If earlier Ukraine’s industry took in close to 30 bcm of gas, then this year it only used 18," noted Oleh Dubyna.

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Tymoshenko.ua

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin congratulated Yulia Tymoshenko on her birthday.

"Accept my heartfelt greetings on your birthday and allow me to wish you happiness, goodwill, health, a good mood and success in your work," reads the greeting.

Vladimir Putin thanked Yulia Tymoshenko for her hospitality in Yalta. "The talks were very intensive and effective," he noted.

On November 19, the Fifth Meeting of the Committee for Economic Cooperation of the Ukraine-Russia Intergovernmental Commission, chaired by Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, was held in Yalta. On November 20, Yalta hosted the Summit of CIS Heads of Government.

Published in Kyiv Post

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko will participate in a congress of the European People's Party (EPP) early in December this year, and she is planning to hold a number of meetings with the leaders of European Union organizations in order to discuss the competitiveness of the Ukrainian economy, Ukrainian Vice Premier Hryhoriy Nemyria has said.

"As part of her participation in the congress of the European People's Party and an EPP summit, which will be held in Bonn, Germany, the Ukrainian prime minister will attend an international economic conference, in particular the section of it dedicated to the issue of competitiveness," he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Nov. 24.

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Published in Inform issue #132
See the full issue here.

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko had a fruitful meeting with her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Yalta, where the two leaders agreed to tweak the terms of the 10-year gas contract reached in January. In particular, Mr Putin said that Russia would not penalise Ukraine for taking less gas than it had contracted for. Also, as from 2010, Russia agreed to pay market prices for gas transiting through Ukraine’s gas pipeline network to Europe.

Gas was a topic high on the agenda of Ukraine’s premier as she met with Mr Putin last week at the Livadiya Palace in Yalta – venue for a meeting of prime ministers from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Since Naftohaz Ukrainy and Gazprom signed last January’s groundbreaking gas deal, Ukraine’s economy has been hit severely by the economic downturn with industry consuming less gas than anticipated. Contractually, Gazprom has the right to levy financial penalties on Naftohaz, but Russia’s premier, who was instrumental in brokering the January deal, confirmed that Gazprom would waive the penalties.

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Published by FT
By Roman Olearchyk

Vladimir Putin, Russian prime minister, has agreed to waive sanctions against Ukraine and amend Russia’s natural gas contract with the country, in a move that could ease fears of a disruption to European gas supplies this winter.

After late night talks held at the Crimean resort town of Yalta with Yulia Tymoshenko, his Ukrainian counterpart, the Russian premier reassured Europe that a repeat of last January’s gas dispute between Kiev and Moscow would be avoided.

Read the full article at FT.com

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Prime Minister Yulia is in Yalta where she is meeting with CIS heads of government in Livadia Palace.

Taking part in the meeting are Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat, and the Prime Ministers of Tajikistant Akil Akilov, Belarus - Sergey Sidorsky, Kazakhstan - Karim Masimov, Kyrgyzstan - Daniyar Usenov, Armenia - Tigran Sargsyan, First Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Yagub Eyyubov, Deputy Head of Government and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov, Uzbekistan's Permanent Representative to the CIS Ostanakul Mirzayev, Chairman of the Executive Committee - Executive Secretary of the CIS Sergey Lebedev.

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Tymoshenko.ua

Today in Yalta the heads of government of the Commonwealth of Independent State countries met to consider more than 20 projects aimed at jumpstarting and deepening cooperation.

In particular, they will consider the 2009-2010 Plan for Overcoming the Aftermath of the Financial and Economic Crisis.

The project contains measures that are global in scale in terms of policy and aims to expand the use of national currencies of the Commonwealth in transactions with each other, removing barriers in trade and to coordinate efforts in protecting the domestic markets of the CIS countries.

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Published in Inform issue #131
See the full issue here.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has not abandoned Ukraine. This was the message from Deputy Prime Minister Hryhoriy Nemyria who told Inform that IMF officials could resume talks to discuss its next loan payment provided the president, national bank and the cabinet of ministers agree to implement clauses stipulated within the IMF cooperative agreement. The comments came as Fitch Ratings downgraded Ukraine one notch to B-, maintaining a negative outlook.

The basis of the Fitch downgrade is due largely to the IMF withholding a $3.8 billion next tranche payment from the $16.4 billion stand-by facility agreed last year. The loan is desperately needed to help bolster the government’s finances. Ukraine still finds itself in the grip of a severe recession and is bracing itself ahead of steep winter gas bills.

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Kyiv Post

Ukrainian Vice Premier Hryhoriy Nemyria has said that a decision on Ukraine's accession to the Energy Community Treaty will be taken at a meeting of the ministerial council of the Energy Community in Zagreb, Croatia, on Dec. 18.

He told this to Ukrainian reporters in Brussels on Nov. 18.

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Tymoshenko.ua

There are no gas-related problems in relations between Ukraine and Russia. Therefore, the heads of the Ukrainian and Russian governments will not be discussing this issue during the economic committee meeting in Yalta on 19 November, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said today during a press conference.

"One of our priorities for cooperation with Russia is the energy sector. At this stage, no issues relating to natural gas will be discussed during the economic committee meeting. And there is one simple reason for this - because there are currently no problematic issues in this sector," Yulia Tymoshenko explained.

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Tymoshenko.ua

Ukraine is demonstrating a stable trend of economic recovery, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko announced during her opening remarks at the Cabinet of Ministers meeting on Wednesday.

"Ukraine continues to recover from the crisis, systematically restoring order in its economy… If at the start of the crisis the GDP dropped by 20%.. now in the third and fourth quarters we are demonstrating relatively strong recovery dynamics," the head of government reported.

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Tymoshenko.ua

The Cabinet of Ministers is meeting all the requirements of the International Monetary Fund and there are no grounds to speak about a break in cooperation with the IMF.

"The International Monetary Fund has not ceased working with the Cabinet of Ministers. I wouldn't put an end to our cooperation with the IMF, which is actually assessing the situation, knows every politician and statesman in Ukraine," First Vice Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchynov has said.
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According to him, during talks with the IMF the government stressed that prices for natural gas can not be raised for the population and the Cabinet of Ministers was able to prove its point, explaining that gas prices can only increase if there is an increase in personal income.

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Tymoshenko.ua

The year 2010 will become the first year in Ukraine’s history that will begin without gas problems and conflicts, because the Cabinet of Ministers will activate the necessary financial resource to ensure payments are made to Russia's Gazprom.

"We will find the means, we will be able to activate the financial resources, we will be able to work somewhere, however, it is not our task since local administration authorities are subordinate to the President, but we are working directly with them, working with the mayors, helping them with credit resources to ensure timely payments for gas," First Vice Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchynov has said.

He is ruling out the possibility of a gas conflict with Russia in the beginning of 2010 because the effective agreement determines the price for natural gas based on a formula.

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Tymoshenko.ua

On Wednesday, November 11, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko met with G8 and EU-country ambassadors and representatives of the Delegation of the European Commission to Ukraine. The head of government informed the Europeans about the financial steps that the Cabinet of Ministers has taken, the current state of cooperation between Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund and discussed issues concerning European assistance to Ukraine.

The Cabinet of Ministers, announced Yulia Tymoshenko, has already passed a resolution on the principles of financing the country in 2010 in case parliament doesn’t ratify the State Budget for next year. The IMF acknowledged the principles.

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The Cabinet of Ministers sees continued cooperation with the IMF as Ukraine’s main anti-crisis program.

"We believe that continuing cooperation with the IMF is necessary to make it through to the end of the presidential campaign. This is a political stage for stabilizing the political situation in Ukraine and for overcoming the financial and economic crisis. It will be very difficult without the fourth tranche from the IMF," Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said today during a meeting with G8 and EU country ambassadors and representatives of the European Commission in Ukraine.

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Tymoshenko.ua

Ukraine has fulfilled its international obligations regarding the supply and transit of natural gas, having paid for the gas in full and on time.

"It took great efforts, but we managed to pay our natural gas bill for October in full and on time. But this comes at a very high price for us," Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said during toady’s meeting with G8 and EU ambassadors and representatives of the European Commission in Ukraine.

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The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine passed a resolution concerning the principles for financing the country in 2010 in case parliament doesn’t pass the State Budget for next year. The IMF acknowledged the document.

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Published in Inform issue #130
See the full issue here.

According to a recent opinion poll, the contest for the presidency is gearing up to be a two-horse race between Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Leader of the Opposition, Viktor Yanukovych. The poll also indicates that Ms Tymoshenko is steadily closing the gap on the Party of Regions supremo.

The poll by the TNS group puts Mr Yanukovych on 23.2 percent of the vote with Ms Tymoshenko breathing down his neck with 17.9 percent. Arseniy Yatseniuk is languishing in third place with 6.5 percent. He has seen his ratings slump from 11.1 percent in August, mainly due to a disastrous election campaign, lack of policy and poorly received public speeches.

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Kyiv Post

Ukraine will convert Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) from the International Monetary Fund to pay for November's Russian gas bill, Deputy Prime Minister Hryhory Nemyrya told a television channel late on Nov. 10.

Special drawing rightsare a nominal monetary unit of the IMF. In August the fund injected about $250 billion of liquidity to its 186 members and Ukraine received the equivalent of $2 billion. Ukraine has been paying around $500 million a month for Russian gas. EU leaders are concerned Kiev may fall behind its payments for Russian gas, prompting another energy crisis that in January led to supply cuts affecting hundreds of thousands in Europe.

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UKRINFORM / BSANNA News

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is not planning to stop its cooperation with Ukraine until the end of presidential elections in the country, Ukrainian Vice Premier for European and International Integration Hryhoriy Nemyria has said. He said at a briefing on Monday that the statement by IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn had been wrongly interpreted.

Nemyria said that he had spoken with Strauss-Kahn by phone on November 9. “The IMF is not changing its positions on cooperation with Ukraine,” he said, adding that a key problem for further joint work is the law on a rise in social standards, which was signed by the Ukrainian president despite a warning from the IMF.

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Tymoshenko.ua

Ukraine is holding talks with the European Commission for the latter to provide 610 million euros to support macro-financial stability in the country.

"We expect these funds to be allocated in late 2009/early 2010," Vice Prime Minister Hryhoriy Nemyria said today during a press conference.

He clarified that these funds will come in two tranches. "The allocation of 110 million euros has already been approved and the only condition is that Ukraine continues to cooperate with the IMF. The second tranche - 500 million euros must be approved by the European Parliament," Hryhoriy Nemyria announced.

Source Interfax

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said Friday Naftogaz paid its gas bill to Russia's OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) for October's gas deliveries.

"We paid Russia$500 million today," Tymoshenko is quoted as saying.

Ukrainian national gas company Naftogaz said Thursday it has completed the restructuring of its $1.6 billion in external debt.

Tymoshenko.ua

Ukraine will purchase 200,000 packages of the anti-virus medicine Arbidol as well as flu vaccine from the Russian Federation. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin reached this agreement during a phone conversation.

In addition, the heads of the Ukrainian and Russian governments agreed to cooperate in identifying flu strains and carry out joint research in this field.

The Russian Prime Minister promised to supply the medicines as soon as possible.

Tumoshenko.ua

Ukraine will fully pay for Russian gas supplied in October by the deadline, Minister of Fuel and Energy Yuriy Prodan has said.

"Ukraine will pay for all the gas imported in October in full and on time using money that Naftohaz has earned from its business activities," he said.

Yuriy Prodan assured that all the provisions of the contract between Naftohaz and Russia’s Gazprom are currently being met. "Naftohaz is in constant dialogue with Gazprom," he added.

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Tymoshenko.ua

Today, November 4, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko will hold a meeting with regional leaders on how to prevent the spread of infection.

Earlier, the head of government visited the Ivano-Frankivsk region, where she learned about the work of the oblast infectious diseases hospital, especially how they are treating people with flu and actute respiratory viral infections.

She also checked that the hospital had the necessary medicine and equipment and the conditions of the hospital rooms.

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Tumoshenko.ua

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has instructed the Ministry of Health, regional governors and city mayors to within a day address the problems of long lines at hospitals. This did so during today’s meeting with regional leaders on how to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

"We need to urgently address the issue and make sure that there aren’t long lines at hospitals and open additional offices. The oblast governors and city mayor have a day to get rid of the lines at hospitals," Yulia Tymoshenko said.

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Published in Financial Times
By Roman Olearchyk in Kiev

The International Monetary Fund has warned that it could cut financial assistance to Ukraine, one of the world’s most recession hit economies, after the country veered “off track” by adopting populist wage and pension increases.

The warning came after Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s president, on Friday signed the increases into law, ignoring warnings from the IMF and Yulia Tymoshenko, his prime minister and bitter rival. The standoff is rooted in a rivalry between Ukraine’s political leaders ahead of a hotly contested presidential election to be held in January.

Read the full article at Financial Times