About 60% of attempts to smuggle cigarettes is recorded through ports, in general, tobacco products are most popular among other smuggled goods, First Deputy Head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Volodymyr Nikiforenko has said.
“More than 60% of smuggling is detected in ports. There are significant consignments of seized cigarettes. For example, one of the recent large consignments detained is estimated at about UAH 80 million,” he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.
According to Nikiforenko, in general, this year the State Border Guard Service suppressed attempts of illegal movement of tobacco products across the border about 750 times, seized 12 million packages of cigarettes.
“During this year, our colleagues and partners, and we interact with law enforcement agencies of countries adjacent to Ukraine, note a 50-67% fall in the volume of smuggling from Ukraine to Europe,” he said.
The first deputy head of the State Border Guard Service added that drones and small aircraft are often used to supply cigarette contraband.
“There are indicative episodes when we detained a plane that launched from Cherkasy region and was moving to the Romanian border. In just one day, it violated the airspace four times. The plane was detained, criminal proceedings are underway,” Nikiforenko said.
With regard to the fight against smuggling of cigarettes, Nikiforenko supported the legislative initiative to return criminal responsibility for smuggling an excisable group of goods.
“We are losing in the influence on the development of the criminal situation in the border zone to our neighbors, where the law enforcement influence on these processes is tougher. This encourages wider population to this illegal activity. Where there is administrative responsibility, our Romanian neighbors can bring to criminal responsibility with serious consequences: for 10 boxes of cigarettes you can get five years in prison. Romanians are less involved in this [smuggling], while in Ukraine many settlements “specialize” in this for years,” Nikiforenko said, adding that only about 2% of cigarettes with a Ukrainian excise label are seized on the border, while the rest is counterfeit and smuggling from other countries.
On October, 24 and 25 «The Kyivan Rus Park» invites everybody to a grandiose event of the autumn – Ukrainian Open Horseback Archery Championship «The Scythians».
The best horseback archers of Ukraine – prize-winners of international championships will take part in the competition.
Experienced virtuoso athletes dressed in historical costumes will compete in the accuracy of shooting with traditional (historical) bows on horseback at full gallop. It is an incredibly difficult task for the participants of the competition, and at the same time, an exciting show for the audience!
Also the guests will see the demonstrative performances of actors-stuntmen of the horse-trick theatre on the virtuoso possession of different medieval weapons.
The sportsmen and the actors-stuntmen will perform in a tandem with the unique horses of historical breeds gathered from all over the world in the Princely stable. Some of these horses can be seen nowhere else in Ukraine because they were brought to our country in a single number. The horses can be palmed, taken a photo with, ridden on a horseback or in a carriage.
In between competitions, the guests will find a bright entertainment program on a historical theme with equestrian performances and ancient Slavic funs.
The event is held in accordance with the requirements of the quarantine regime.
Ancient Kyiv opens at 10:00. The program starts at 13:30. * The event program is subject to change.
The ticket price: a full adult ticket – 250 UAH, for pensioners and students – 150 UAH, for schoolchildren – 80 UAH, for preschool children – for free.
Ancient Kyiv in the «Kyivan Rus Park» is located in Kyiv region, Obukhiv district, the vill. Kopachiv.
Details on the website www.parkkyivrus.com
The Interfax subscribers can save money with the “openbusiness-20” promo code for a 20%-discount for a full price adult ticket to the Principality of Kyivan Rus:
– by previous order by tel.: +38 044 461-99-37, +38 050 385-20-35
– or at the cash desk at the entrance to the «Kyivan Rus Park».
The State Road Agency of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) has begun repair work on the sections of the route from Izmail to Vylkove with a length of 34 km (Odesa region).
As reported on the Ukravtodor’s Facebook page, work is currently being carried out on a ten-kilometer section from the city of Kiliya to the border of Izmail district. Arrangement of the base with crushed stone-sand mixture has already begun here.
The contractor is Rostdorstroy LLC.
It is noted that work is also carried out to develop designed-estimated documentation for the renewal of a 24 km section from Kiliya to Vylkove. The work is scheduled to begin early next year.
According to the agency, drivers will be able to use the updated route next year.
In total, in Odesa region, Ukravtodor plans to renew 194 km of roads in 2020.
Rostdorstroy along with Kyivshliakhbud are incorporated into RDS Group. The core business is construction, reconstruction and maintenance of roads and bridges, construction of airfield complexes.
As of July 2020, RDS operated in nine regions of Ukraine and had 10 production bases. In particular, the group built concrete road N-14 Kropyvnytsky – Mykolaiv, and as part of the reconstruction of road N-31 Dnipro – Reshetylivka in Poltava region the group built an overpass across the railway and a section of the first concrete road in Ukraine. In 2019, the company won a World Bank tender for work on M-03 highway of the first category Kyiv – Kharkiv – Dovzhansky.
The ultimate beneficial owners of RDS Group are Ukrainian citizens Yuriy Shumakher and Yevhen Konovalov.
IZMAIL, KONOVALOV, KYIVSHLIAKHBUD, RDS, ROSTDORSTROY, SHUMAKHER, VYLKOVE
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky says that the implementation of the Big Construction program will not end after the local elections scheduled for October 25.
“To implement the Comfortable Country program we started Big Construction. And this is not just the name of the next state program. Everyone can see that the country is really undergoing a lot of construction works. We unite Ukraine, not only with the help of ideology but with roads and bridges as well,” Zelensky said during his annual address to the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday, October 20.
“This year these are 4,000 km of national roads and 2,000 km of local roads, 100 schools, 100 kindergartens, 100 sports facilities, 210 reception services with the latest medical equipment. When we announced these numbers at the beginning of the year, many did not believe. But most of these facilities are already finished, and by the end of the year we will fulfill this plan,” the head of state added.
The president stressed that the current government is not delaying, but finishing the construction of a number of facilities, which began in previous years.
“Despite the long tradition of Ukrainian policy, Big Construction will not end after the local elections, but will become even larger,” Zelensky added.
The bus operator FlixBus will open three new routes on November 4 and on November 5: Kyiv – Warsaw – Szczecin (both are in Poland), Chernivtsi – Warsaw and Lviv – Ostrava (the Czech Republic).
As Managing Director of FlixBus in Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic States Michal Lehman said at a press conference on Tuesday, route number 3222 Kyiv-Warsaw-Szczecin, which will be operated jointly with private entrepreneur Serhiy Sherstiuk, will also pass through the following cities: Zhytomyr, Rivne, Lutsk, Lublin, Lodz, Poznan and Gorzow Wielkopolski. The trip frequency is twice a week.
Route 3241 Chernivtsi – Warsaw (partner – IV-AUTO) will pass through Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Lublin. The frequency is three times a week.
Route CUA025 Lviv – Ostrava (partner – ACIK, Poland) will pass through Krakow, Katowice and Bohumin. Its frequency is twice a week.
“The first two lines are fully compliant with the green FlixBus standards. The third line will be fully operated by ACIK, but we will also sell tickets for these trips. There are separate seats on ACIK buses, which are marked with a green sticker, which will be assigned to FlixBus passengers,” he said.
According to him, to date, the FlixBus network connects 16 cities of Ukraine from 12 regions with 48 cities in Europe (six countries).
Ukrainian agricultural holding Kernel, which announced about a buyout of 2022 eurobonds for up to $350 million on October 5, received applications for a total sum of $285.89 million by the term of early deadline and decided to satisfy all of them, according to the company’s report on the exchange on Tuesday, October 20.
These debut eurobonds of the agricultural holding were issued in January 2017 for five years for $500 million at 8.875% with a coupon of 8.75%. The purchase price was set at 105.625%.
At the same time, Kernel announced issuing eurobonds in the amount of approximately $300-350 million for a period of five or seven years. The organizers of the issue are JPMorgan, Credit Agricole и Natixis.
“The purpose of the tender offer is to proactively manage and lengthen the structure of the group’s debt by maturity by refinancing part of the bonds with new bonds with a longer maturity,” the report says.
The company confirmed that the early settlement is October 29. The deadline for accepting applications for exchange is November 2, however, after the early deadline, the settlement price is 102.625%. The final settlement date is November 5.
The redeemable Kernel eurobonds at the end of the day on October 19 were quoted at the rate of 105.544% of the face value, which corresponded to profitability of about 4.229%.
