Contents tagged with EU

  • Ukraine starts receiving clean oil from Russia

    The press service of the Ukrainian national oil company Ukrtransnafta confirmed that Druzhba oil pipeline system in the Ukrainian direction began to receive high-quality oil from Russia.

    The oil pipeline operator specified that the fuel for further transportation to the EU is supplied from the linear production control station Mozyr of the pipeline operator Gomeltransneft Druzhba.

    Following Belarus, the Ukrainian side examined the sample and confirmed that the quality of the oil is now in …

  • EU condemns human rights violations in annexed Crimea

    At the OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna, the EU delegation made a statement condemning the human rights situation in the annexed Crimea.

    "We remain deeply concerned about the deterioration of the human rights situation in the illegally annexed Crimea. We support the statement of the OSCE representative on freedom of the media Harlem Désir of April 17, which condemns the deterioration of the situation with freedom of speech and security of journalists on the peninsula," the statement …

  • Russia prepares 500 thousand forms to issue passports in LPR and the DPR

    Five thousand forms have already been prepared for the distribution of Russian passports to residents of the occupied areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, reports LB.ua in the article “Operation passportization”: the motivation behind Kremlin distribution of Russian citizenships to residents of the LPR and the DPR”.

    “According to LB.ua sources in law enforcement agencies, the estimated number of forms appears to be 500 thousand. Local security officials (“siloviki”) were told …

  • EU to spend €215 million to remove Poland's dependency on Russian gas

    The EU government has decided to allocate €215 million to the construction of the Baltic Pipe, a pipeline that will transport gas from Norwegian deposits through Denmark to Poland.

    The Polish gas operator Gaz-System will receive the funds for construction of the pipeline. The company announced on Monday that it had signed the relevant agreement with the EU’s Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA).

    The financing will be used to build the underwater section of the pipe that will …

  • European Union adopts amendments to EU Gas Directive to control Nord Stream 2

    The European Union finalized a draft amendment to the European Union Gas Directive, which controls the use of gas pipelines in the territory of the alliance. The European Union plans to introduce all the technical procedures by the end of 2019. The head of the Directorate-General for Energy within the European Commission, Dominique Ristori, has previously stressed that the EU intends to bring the amendments into effect before the start of operation of the Russian Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline so …

  • Media: the European Union lifted sanctions against 9 Yanukovych's associates

    Because of the lack of evidence, the EU has removed nine persons close to the ex-president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych from the sanctions list. These restrictions were initially imposed in 2014, reports Welt am Sonntag.

    170 people and 44 organizations associated with Yanukovych are presently under EU sanctions. They are accused of undermining the territorial integrity of Ukraine. However, the newspaper does not specify who exactly is removed from the list.

    Meanwhile, Mykola Tochytskyi, the …

  • Poroshenko warns Zelensky about the risk of being left without US and EU support

    Actor Volodymyr Zelensky, who is currently the front-runner in the presidential elections in Ukraine, could jeopardize relations between Kyiv and the rest of the world, announced the incumbent president Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, speaking on ICTV.

    "His first statements begin with " I [Volodymyr Zelensky] will negotiate with the leaders. He did not say if they are the so-called LPR and DPR. What does this mean? This means that Russia is no longer an aggressor and there is no need to impose …

  • Zelensky names Ukraine’s two 'global problems'

    Ukrainian presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky revealed what he thinks Ukraine’s two “global problems” are during an interview with the TV channel “Ukraine” aired on Sunday 7 April.

    According to Zelensky, the country’s first “global problem” is the war in the Donbas, and the second is foreign investors’ fear of investing in the country.

    “People are scared that their finances are not protected, that businesses are put under pressure by all kinds of law enforcement organs that shouldn’t …

  • Russia to impose new tariffs on European goods

    Russia is planning to impose additional restrictions on goods imported from the EU. The Russian government has sent a corresponding notice to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

    The restrictions will be a response to the EU’s 25% tariff on Russian steel which came into force on 2 February, according to the notice published on the WTO website.

    The exact nature of the restrictions has not yet been decided, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development told Interfax.

    According to the WTO’s rules, …

  • Ukrainian elections: One third of Ukrainians voted for Zelensky

    After announcing his candidacy on New Year’s Eve, Volodymyr Zelensky needed only three months to come first out of 40 other candidates in the first round of Ukraine’s presidential elections on 31 March. According to three authoritative sociological services, the results are unprecedented in Ukraine’s recent history. A comedian and political debutant, Zelensky received roughly 30.4% of the votes, whereas current president and candidate Petro Poroshenko came second with only 16.4%. Former prime …