Some Chinese companies cooperate with Crimea on market principles, based on historical ties and practical needs, and such commercial activities should not be politicized, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian has said.
“China’s position on the Crimea issue is consistent. We hope relevant sides can properly address the issue through dialogue and consultation. Some Chinese companies, based on historically-established ties and practical needs, conduct exchanges and cooperation with Crimea on the basis of market principles. Such commercial activities should not be politicized,” he said at a press conference, the content of which was published on the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Thus, the spokesperson commented on the visit of the Chinese delegation to Crimea and the statement of Ukrainian MP from the Opposition Platform – For Life faction Vadym Rabinovych that this is “China’s retaliatory move in connection with Ukraine’s position on Motor Sich.”
As reported, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, by decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), on January 29 imposed sanctions on Chinese citizen Wang Jing and related Beijing Xinwei Technology Group Co., Ltd; Beijing Skyrizon Aviation Industry Investment Co., Ltd (both are based in Beijing); Skyrizon Aircraft Holdings Limited (British Virgin Islands) and Hong Kong Skyrizon Holdings Limited (Hong Kong), which in recent years have been trying to implement the rights of PJSC Motor Sich shareholders, who are placed on the sanctions list of Ukraine.
According to the decision of the NSDC and Zelensky decree No. 29 dated January 28, 2021, the sanctions imposed for three years provide, in particular, the blocking of assets, restriction of trade operations, partial or complete cessation of the transit of resources, flights and transportation across the territory of Ukraine. Other restrictions include preventing the withdrawal of capital from Ukraine, a complete ban on transactions with securities of which they are issuers, and a ban on the purchase of enterprises in Ukraine. The list of sanctions also includes a ban on increasing the size of the charter capital of business entities in which sub-sanctioned persons own 10% or more, and cancellation of official visits, meetings, negotiations on the conclusion of contracts or agreements.
Ukraine will issue an international certificate of vaccination, acting within the framework of international law, Deputy Minister of Health, Chief State Sanitary Doctor Viktor Liashko told the Telegram channel Coronavirus Info.
According to the message, if a country requires an international certificate of vaccination against coronavirus (COVID-19) disease when crossing the border, Ukrainians will receive such a free certificate in two clicks.
“But it is not worth implementing and demanding a certificate of vaccination against COVID-19 now. I fully share the opinion of WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge who publicly warns the European Commission against plans to introduce documents on vaccination against COVID-19,” Liashko said.
The European Union plans to present a demo version of COVID-19 vaccination passports on March 17, Deputy Health Minister Yaroslav Kucher said during a press briefing in Kyiv on Monday.
“Currently, there is no jointly worked out decision on vaccination passports in the world. The EU is only discussing a unified document and proposes to submit a demo version of the document on March 17,” he said.
The deputy minister added that after the approval of the unified document, Ukraine will be able to issue it to citizens on the basis of vaccination data, which are stored in the corresponding register of the electronic health care system.
“When the EU or other countries adopt a unified document that Ukraine will support, it will be possible to issue such a document or certificate based on the data in the electronic health care system,” he said.
Kucher also added that currently, countries that carry out vaccinations issue vaccination certificates, certificates or QR codes in paper or electronic format. For example, in Israel a certificate is issued electronically, in Poland a QR code is issued, in Denmark one can download a certificate through a special portal, Hungary offers a mobile application, and in Sweden the certificate will be issued in electronic format with its own application.
Rinat Akhmetov with a fortune of $7.6 billion topped the rating of the richest businessmen in Ukraine, according to the website of Forbes Ukraine.
According to the updated rating, his fortune as the richest in the list of Ukrainian businessmen has increased from $2.8 to $7.6 billion. Now Akhmetov is ranked 330th in the ranking of the richest people in the world. Its largest assets are Metinvest ($3.3 billion) and DTEK Group ($2.1 billion).
The second place was taken by businessman Victor Pinchuk. Since June 2020, his fortune has grown from $1.4 billion to $2.5 billion. Of this amount, $800 million is real estate, $700 million is money, and $500 million is Interpipe.
Kostiantyn Zhevaho is third in the rating. His fortune increased from $1.1 billion to $2.1 billion. His largest asset is Ferrexpo ($1.4 billion).
The list includes Ihor Kolomoisky with $1.8 billion, Hennadiy Boholiubov with $1.7 billion, Petro Poroshenko with $ 1.6 billion and Vadim Novinsky with $1.4 billion.
Forbes Ukraine estimates Novinsky’s fortune in June 2020 at $810 million.
National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom received UAH 4.8 billion of net loss in 2020 versus UAH 3.7 billion of net profit in 2019, the communications department of Energoatom said on Thursday.
According to the company’s financial statements for last year, its net income amounted to UAH 45.648 billion, down by 6.6% compared to the previous year (UAH 48.846 billion), and gross profit – UAH 6.837 billion (51% less, UAH 11.569 billion).
At the same time, EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, amounted to UAH 13.3 billion.
As the company said, UAH 4.8 billion of net loss arose as a result of four factors beyond the control of the state-owned enterprise.
The first one is the cost of the exchange rate difference when servicing foreign currency loans. Thanks to them, at present, in particular, the project for the construction of the Central Storage Facility for Spent Nuclear Fuel and the comprehensive (consolidated) program for improving the safety of NPP (Nuclear Power Plant) power units are being implemented. Due to the significant growth of the euro and the U.S. dollar during 2020, the company’s losses in servicing foreign currency loans amounted to UAH 6.601 billion.
The second factor is the compulsory reduction in the volume of commercial products of Energoatom from 80.6 billion kWh to 73.7 billion kWh in accordance with the forecast balance approved by the Energy Ministry in April last year. As a result of balance constraints, some NPP power units were put on reserve for a period of one to three months, others operated with capacity constraints from 10% to 40%. As a result, the company received less than UAH 4.7 billion of income.
The next factor is direct losses due to the discrepancy between the cost of electricity produced by the NPP and the price at which Energoatom supplies it to the population within the framework of public service obligations (PSO) imposed on it by the government. As a result of the sale of half of the electricity produced at a price of UAH 0.01 per kWh, within the framework of the PSO project, losses amounted to UAH 1.2 billion.
The fourth factor is the total debt to Energoatom in the amount of UAH 22.6 billion. Of these, UAH 11.6 billion is the debt of the no longer functioning state-owned enterprise Energorynok, UAH 6.5 billion is the debt of the Guaranteed Buyer and UAH 4.4 billion is the debt of NPC Ukrenergo.
“That is, the operating activity of the state enterprise is profitable, and the net loss at the level of UAH 4.8 billion is explained by the cost of the exchange rate difference when servicing foreign currency loans, losses from the implementation of PSO and balance sheet restrictions, as well as the huge accounts receivable of Energoatom,” the company said.
At the same time, Energoatom plans to complete the first quarter of 2021 with net profit.
From October 2020 to January 2021, the use of 5G smartphones in Ukraine increased from 31,000 to 194,000.
The data was received by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine together with mobile network operators, according to the ministry’s website.
The ministry said that the number of smartphones with 4G support also continues to grow, since several thousand settlements are connected monthly to this technology by mobile network operators. Therefore, owners of almost 31 million smartphones can use 4G high-speed Internet.
“We see a situation when Ukrainians, having 4G smartphones and the necessary coverage, continue using the old SIM cards with 3G. We urge subscribers to replace their cards with those that support 4G, because this data transfer technology is 10-15 times faster than the Internet of the older generation. Replacement is free with each operator and takes several minutes. After that, the quality of the video call and the speed of downloading files will be much higher,” the press service said, citing Head of the mobile Internet development group of the Ministry of Digital Transformation Stanislav Prybytko.
