The State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine will allow the import of books from the Russian Federation to Ukrainian territory, referring to the law adopted by the Verkhovna Rada in 2016, the press service of the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting reported.
“The issuance of permits for the import of books from the Russian Federation into the territory of Ukraine is carried out in accordance with the law that was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada at the end of 2016. This law provides that import permits are not granted exclusively to books of anti-Ukrainian content, as well as those containing propaganda in favor of the aggressor state,” the message said.
The department said that over the entire period of the law and, accordingly, the functioning of the licensing system, not a single book of anti-Ukrainian content has entered Ukraine legally, and the volume of books brought from the Russian Federation has decreased 12 times compared to 2011. It is reported that during 2017-2020 the law of the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting made it possible to import into Ukraine 31,000 titles of books from Russia. Most of the books allowed for import are works of world classics, children’s and popular science literature. Part of the permits were issued for the import into Ukraine of Ukrainian-language books by Ukrainian publishing houses, printed in the Russian Federation.
In addition, during 2017-2020, the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting provided 4,274 refusals to importers to import book products from the Russian Federation. Most of the refusals related to the submission of an incomplete package of documents by the applicants, and in 274 cases – anti-Ukrainian content found in publications.
Almost 1.5 million copies of anti-Ukrainian publications were not allowed to be imported into Ukraine. At the same time, the department reported that a complete cessation or restriction of the import of Russian books into the territory of Ukraine is possible only through the adoption of an appropriate law, which would provide for an embargo on their import.
BOOKS, IMPORT, RUSSIAN, UKRAINIAN STATE COMMITTEE ON TELEVISION
NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy in 2020 rendered services to PJSC Gazprom (Russia) in organizing transportation of natural gas through the territory of Ukraine for $ 2.11 billion.
“For 2020, Gazprom fully paid for the annual capacity of the Ukrainian gas transmission system (GTS) for gas transportation. According to the agreement dated December 31, 2019 between Naftogaz and Gazprom, the cost of booking 65 billion cubic meters of annual capacity is $ 2.1 billion. In addition, in the fourth quarter of 2020, Naftogaz additionally rendered services to Gazprom for the use of the Ukrainian gas transportation system, for which it receives over $ 30 million,” the press release of the company said.
According to the company, the total volume of Russian gas transported in 2020 amounted to 55.8 billion cubic meters.
The state-owned enterprise Medical Procurement of Ukraine negotiated the purchase of a vaccine against COVID-19 with India’s Serum Institute, MP from the Holos faction Oleksandra Ustinova has said with reference to SOE Medical Procurement of Ukraine. According to the response of the SOE to her request, the Ministry of Health has suspended negotiations with the manufacturer.
“Negotiations with manufacturers or potential suppliers of vaccines have been suspended due to the failure to authorize SOE Medical Procurement of Ukraine to act as the recipient of budgetary funds, the lack of appropriations in 2021 for the purchase of vaccines for SOE Medical Procurement of Ukraine and the lack of an approved additional amount of vaccine for the purchase,” MP said.
Ustinova said that the vaccine from Serum Institute was procured for the COVAX global initiative.
In addition, according to her, the cost of a dose of the vaccine from the manufacturer Sinovac, the supply agreement for which was signed by Ukraine, is six times higher than the cost of the Indian vaccine.
Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. specializes in the production of immunobiological preparations, among which, in particular, vaccines against poliomyelitis, measles, hepatitis B, BCG vaccine against tuberculosis, as well as DPT vaccine against whooping cough, diphtheria and tetanus.
Earlier, preparations for immunoprophylaxis produced by Serum II were supplied to Ukraine, in particular, the DPT vaccine, and Hib vaccine to prevent Haemophilus influenzae type b. In 2018, the State Service of Ukraine for Medicines and Drug Control imposed a temporary ban on the DTP Serum II series vaccines due to reports of a fatal case following the use of these series. However, later the ban was lifted on the basis of a conclusion of the regional rapid response group (in Ternopil region) regarding the absence of a causal relationship between the death and immunization.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in January improved the forecast for grain exports from Ukraine in the 2020/2021 agricultural year (July-June) by 0.2 million tonnes compared to the December forecast, to 45.81 million tonnes with a yield of 64.21 million tonnes due to a reduction in consumption estimates.
According to the ministry’s monthly report, this concerns crops such as barley, oats, rye, millet and sorghum, while the forecast for wheat and corn is kept unchanged.
In particular, the U.S. Department of Agriculture expects the export of 24 million tonnes of corn with a harvest of 29.5 million tonnes and exports of 17.5 million tonnes of wheat with a harvest of 25.5 million tonnes, respectively.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in the previous agricultural year Ukraine exported 16.02 million tonnes of wheat with a harvest of 25.06 million tonnes, 30.32 million tonnes of corn with a harvest of 35.81 million tonnes, and in general, grain exports amounted to 50.09 million tonnes with a harvest of 69.56 million tonnes.
Ukraine reduced imports of manganese ore and concentrate in physical terms by 51.9% in 2020 compared to the previous year, to 581,178 tonnes.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service on Tuesday, in monetary terms, imports of manganese ore and concentrate decreased 63.7% over the period to $76.534 million.
At the same time, the main import was recorded from Ghana (88.76% of deliveries in monetary terms), the Russian Federation (8.26%) and South Africa (2.88%).
In 2020, Ukraine exported 69,303 tonnes of manganese ore and concentrate (an increase of 2.1 times compared to 2019) for the amount of $10.819 million, while in 2019 – 33,225 tonnes for $3.307 million. Export and re-export was to the United States (88.03% of supplies), the Czech Republic (10.25%) and Hungary (1.16%).
Smart Energy increased its summary gas production by 8.6% in 2020 year-over-year, to 400.6 million cubic meters, the press service of the group has reported.
In addition, condensate production grew by 4.8%, to 34,700 tonnes.
“Increase of overall production volumes by Smart Energy in 2020 is a result of wells No. 61 and No. 62 launch after workovers at Ostroverkhivske field as well as new volumes of hydrocarbons, resulted with launch of a new well (No. 54) at Svyrydivske field in May of 2020. Meanwhile, a decline in production rates from well No. 10 of Vasyshchivske field continues due to the natural depletion. Therefore, in Q1, 2020, compression equipment was installed to increase production from Vasyshchivske field. And workover is planned to commence in late Q1 of 2021 to access an alternative reservoir horizon, with the aim of boosting production from this well,” the press service said.
Last year the group completed drilling a new well, completed two workovers, installed two new compressors, received the grant of extension of two licenses, and become an owner of a new licence for Svystunkivsko-Chervonolutske field through acquisition of Arkona Gas-Energy LLC.
For the reported period well No. 25 at Svyrydivske field has been drilled to its target depth of 5,320 metres, and logging and completion operations have been performed. It is anticipated that initial testing of the well will commence by the end of January 2021. Subject to successful testing, production hook-up is planned to be completed by the end of Q1 of 2021.
Currently, planning for the drilling of well No. 29 at Svyrydivske field is progressing, with the well due to be spudded in Q1 of 2021. At Vasyshchivske field planning is continuing for a new well to explore the Vvdenska (VED) prospect within the Vasyshchivske licence area. At Ostroverkhivske field processing and interpretation of data of 3D-seismic studies have been completed. The results provide the ground for drilling a new well, due to be spudded in 2021 as well.
“Last year turned out to be rather difficult and not only for the industry, but for all of us in general. Due to our numerous safety measures and high professionalism of our team, Smart Energy Group has not experienced any significant impact so far. We continued to increase production volumes and execute our projects. Nevertheless, we have pretty restrained expectations regarding a new year as lower gas prices and the global economic crisis, strengthened with pandemic COVID-19, will have their impact on gas production,” CEO of Smart Energy Group Serhiy Hlazunov said.
