Situationen i Ukraina just nu, del 4

During the shootout, one of the attackers killed himself while the other was detained. One of the border guards was killed, having received "fatal gunshot wounds," it said.

• The economy grew modestly at 2.4 percent in the first half of 2017 and poverty remains higher than pre-crisis levels.

• Boosting economic growth to 4 percent or more in the next two years is critical to reduce poverty and improve living standards for the population. This will require progress on an ambitious package of reforms, including in land markets, financial sector, anticorruption, and privatization, to stimulate investment and productivity.

• Despite higher revenues, the fiscal deficit is projected to widen to 3.5 percent of GDP in 2017 due to higher public sector wages and spending on social programs. Reducing the fiscal deficit in 2018 and beyond will require adopting responsible pension reform and implementing education and health reform in a manner that improves the quality of services while optimizing the school and hospital network.

Economic growth remains modest due to the unfinished structural reform agenda and headwinds from the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Real GDP grew by 2.4 percent (y-o-y) in the first half of 2017, following growth of 2.3 percent in 2016. While the resumption of growth is a positive development, this is a weak recovery since it follows a cumulative 16 percent contraction in 2014 and 2015. Even key sectors exhibiting relative strength, such as manufacturing, trade services, and transport continued to grow at a modest pace—3.7, 3.5, and 4.4 percent, respectively—in the first half of 2017, which is insufficient to drive stronger growth in the overall economy. The mining and utility sectors contracted by 6.6 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively, due to the trade blockade against uncontrolled areas of the Donbas region, which affected coal, steel, and electricity production. On the other hand, construction and fixed investment continued to exhibit strong growth in the first half of 2017—at 26 and 22 percent, respectively—pointing toward strengthening investor confidence in some areas, although both remain down sharply from pre-crisis levels. Merchandise exports grew by 23 percent in the first half of 2017, mostly due to improving commodity prices, after declining by 13 percent in 2016. Broader and stronger investment and economic growth will require further progress on the unfinished reform agenda.

Poverty remains significantly higher than pre-crisis levels and faster economic growth is critical to reduce poverty going forward. Moderate poverty (World Bank’s national methodology for Ukraine) in 2016 is estimated at 26.5 percent, down slightly from 27.5 percent in 2015, but up sharply from 14.1 percent in 2013. The poverty rate (under $5.5/day in 2011 PPP) in 2016 is estimated at 7 percent, up sharply from 3.3 percent in 2013. Disposal incomes contracted sharply in real terms in 2015 due to the deep recession and unsustainable social benefits. The average real wage was down 30 percent in January 2016 compared to pre-crisis levels, but increased 17 percent in July 2017 compared to a year earlier due to the increases in public sector salaries and the minimum wage.

Fiscal expenditures and revenues grew strongly in the first half of 2017, with the supplementary budget adding to expenditure pressures for the rest of the year. In 2016, the fiscal deficit widened to 2.2 percent of GDP due to lower social security contributions, despite expenditure restraint and growth of other revenues.

Outlook

The growth projection for 2017 remains modest at 2 percent, but progress on the ambitious package of reforms under consideration could accelerate growth to 4 percent or more going forward. The growth outlook is affected by two key factors. First, Ukraine faces continued headwinds from the conflict in the Donbas region, as evidenced by the coal and trade blockade with the uncontrolled areas. Second, the authorities have been working on an ambitious package of reforms to address structural bottlenecks and advance growth prospects. The next few months are a critical window of opportunity within which to lock in these important reforms. Establishing a transparent market for land transactions would enable Ukraine to tap its vast potential for agricultural exports. Strengthening the governance of state-owned banks and putting in place measures to streamline resolution of non-performing loans (NPLs) would enable a gradual resumption of lending to the private sector. Deeper anticorruption reforms, further improvements to the business environment, and progress on privatization would strengthen investor confidence and attract foreign investment. Locking in these reforms in the next few months could raise growth to 4 percent or more in the next two years. This growth outlook is subject to serious risks, including challenges associated with advancing reforms in a complex political environment, and risks associated with an escalation of the conflict or a deterioration in the external environment.

The lieutenant-colonel of the SBU, who transferred to the DNR, spoke about the secret prisons in Mariupol

According to the Lieutenant-Colonel of the SBU, informal prisons have been organized in Mariupol where Ukrainian authorities send people who are "dangerous from the point of view of separatism."

They were distributed, that is, these are not official prisons," Labusov said.

During the briefing, Labusov also said that in Ukraine, no political decision is taken without the intervention of foreign countries.

A bill on ensuring protection of ethnic minorities’ language rights in the sphere of education was submitted to Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada on Thursday, the author of the legislative motion, the press service of deputy Nestor Shufrich of the Opposition Block caucus said in a report.

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement on Ukrainian Independence Day:
“Today, Ukrainians and Ukrainian communities in Canada and around the world celebrate 26 years of independence and freedom.
…/ “On behalf of all Canadians, Sophie and I wish everyone celebrating a joyful Independence Day.
“Slava Ukraini!”
http://pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2017/08/24/...dependence-day

.@sigmargabriel: Heute vor 26 Jahren erklärte sich die #Ukraine für unabhängig. Gratuliere allen Ukrainerinnen und Ukrainern. Slawa Ukraini!
https://twitter.com/AuswaertigesAmt/...024448/photo/1

The acting high-ranking security official of Ukraine, Lieutenant-Colonel Roman Labusov, defected to the side of the Donetsk People's Republic. He has stated this today at a press conference in Donetsk. Labusov was born in Donetsk, he worked at the SBU Directorate in the Donetsk region. Since 2014 he served in Mariupol.

"I am a Lieutenant Colonel of the SBU, I was in charge of the encryption and documentary connection department. I have gone over to this side in order to expose the criminal activities of the ruling elite of Ukraine," he said.

Labusov also touched upon the investigation of Malaysian Boeing crash in Donbass.
"The instruction [by the SBU leadership] was not to investigate the crime, but to collect evidence that this had been done by the DPR," he concluded.
https://dninews.com/article/sbu-offi...cret-documents

Now, we might understand what he, being an intelligence officer and an expert in law, saw back then. The SBU leaked documents reveal how exactly the military junta in Kiev was using the proclaimed independence of the republics to cover up their war crimes against the civilians.
http://thesaker.is/sbu-cleans-up-aft...ots-down-mh17/

Also, today someone made public data of all employees of the SBU, the Security Service of Ukraine a.k.a. the Gestapo, for the “Luhansk oblast” (the part of it that is still under the military junta’s occupation.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py6P9Njb2TI
On the second video, the SBU senior officers portraits next to the quotations of the Senior officers and ideologists of the Deutsches Reich, some of them are taken out of the Barbarossa Decree issued by Keitel on 13 May 1941 as “Decree on Exercising Military Jurisdiction in the Area of Barbarossa and Special Measures of the troops” based on the Himmler’s Memorandum on the Treatment of Alien Peoples in the East.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW3auQ31Pmo
http://thesaker.is/meet-the-employee...blast-ukraine/

Poroshenko did condemn the Myrotvorets leak -- but not until several weeks later, when he was pushed to respond during his annual press conference in June. And he added a caveat that echoed the position of Myrotvorets itself: Journalists should not write “negative articles” about Ukraine.
https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-atta.../27923284.html