Illegal possession of weapons, anonymous reports of bomb threats, threats to the life of public people are the most frequent manifestations of extremism in Ukraine, according to the results of a study conducted by the Ukrainian Politics Foundation/UP Foundation.
At a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Friday, head of the Ukrainian Politics Foundation/UP Foundation, political experts Kostiantyn Bondarenko noted that there is no legal concept of “extremism” in Ukraine, there is no law that would provide for the fight against extremism, and some of its manifestations, such as terrorism, are prosecuted by law.
According to him, despite the fact that Ukraine does not have such a level of extremism as in the Middle East or Europe, manifestations of ethno-nationalist extremism are not isolated.
“We are talking about the need to prevent severe manifestations of extremism. In order not to be late, we believe that already now it is necessary to do a number of studies, develop a methodological and legislative basis for combating extremism, so that in the future it does not become the most important problem for Ukraine,” Bondarenko emphasized.
In turn, Lev Bondarenko, executive director of the Ukrainian Politics Foundation, UP Foundation, published the results of a study on manifestations of extremism in Ukraine. The study was conducted from December 2019 to November 2020 by monitoring media reports throughout Ukraine, based on ten key criteria that fall under the manifestation of extremism.
“As for the overall results for the year, the following picture has developed: most of all manifestations of extremism were recorded according to the criterion of ‘illegal possession, manufacture and distribution of weapons’ – 746 such cases … The second place is occupied with attempts to prepare terrorist acts, mining of buildings, all statements that we hear about mined premises … there have been 567 of them this year. The third place is taken by the threat to the lives of civil servants, politicians, journalists, public figures … someone have their cars blown up, someone is threatened by force, someone is kidnapped,” he said.
Also, according to Bondarenko, over the past year there have been 14 cases of attempts to seize power and government agencies.
In terms of the number of cases of extremism, Kyiv, Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk regions are “in the lead” in the regional scope.
“Basically in Ukraine, right-wing radical groups are associated with extremism. To a certain extent, this corresponds to reality … Despite the fact that these groups and political structures have combat experience, in our opinion (and this is confirmed by law enforcement agencies), they are not ready to introduce forceful methods of struggle,” head of projects of the Foundation Ukrainian Politics/UP Foundation Oleh Vytiahov said.
“The fight against extremism is being conducted chaotically in Ukraine … Certain crimes that carry extremist signs are attributed to the jurisdiction of various law enforcement agencies … We propose … to systematically work to create a state program to counter extremism. In addition to the right-wing radical, there is also the left-radical extremism,” he stressed.
“It is necessary to define what extremism is within the framework of the legislative field of Ukraine … Then we will be able to develop a law on countering extremism.”
Pharmaceutical manufacturers have overcome the logistics problems that arose at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the shortage of certain active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), said President of the Association of Manufacturers of Medications of Ukraine (AMMU) Petro Bahriy.
“Among the general problems that have arisen with the introduction of quarantine [at the beginning of the epidemic], I would single out the problems of logistics, difficulties with the import, transportation of pharmaceutical products and their registration in connection with closed borders, as well as problems with the so-called ‘anticovid’ goods, for which there is an increased demand today,” he said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
Bahriy noted that the price of some APIs of drugs used in the treatment of COVID-19 and complications of this disease has grown significantly in the global market – there are problems with production due to delays in deliveries.
“This is not a critical situation for the industry as a whole. We have to restructure, place orders earlier, realizing that delivery times will be longer than they were before the pandemic. For the entire time of the pandemic, consumers have not particularly felt a shortage of medicines,” he said.
In order to expand the presence of innovative drugs in Ukraine, it is necessary to use the technology transfer mechanism, President of the Association of Manufacturers of Medications of Ukraine (AMMU) Petro Bahriy believes.
“The localization of production makes it possible to bring such products to the Ukrainian market. Roche had localized drugs protected by a patent. There is another example, when JSC Farmak, thanks to a technology transfer, began production of insulin for Eli Lilly. It was an innovative medicine. The project is still being developed at Farmak and is considered very successful. They sell insulin in other markets and the country only benefits from this,” he said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
At the same time, Bahriy stressed that for the implementation of technology transfer projects, a “message” is needed from the state that it is ready to buy effective innovative drugs.
“In order for original innovative Ukrainian products to appear, we need to invest in science and development, and this is very expensive. Technology transfer is the best mechanism, but cooperation with transnational corporations is impossible in a situation where the state declares that we buy the cheapest,” he said.
Domestic pharmaceutical manufacturers hope to simplify the procedure and conditions for state registration of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), which will allow maintaining the volume of drug production in conditions of API shortage, said President of the Association of Manufacturers of Medications of Ukraine (AMMU) Petro Bahriy.
“At one of the meetings in the Ministry of Health, it was decided to simplify the procedure and conditions for state registration of APIs that are part of all medicines, due to the aggravation of the problems of supplying raw materials for the production of drugs to Ukraine due to the introduction of restrictions on export by main suppliers (China, India), in case of replacement of the API manufacturer for the registration of alternative API suppliers in order to avoid a shortage of necessary medicines,” he said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
The head of the AMMU also noted that domestic pharmaceutical manufacturers hope that the possibilities of using mechanisms of state guarantees, state orders and state reserves for the procurement of medicines will be considered.
At the same time, Bahriy believes that one of the real steps of the state, which would allow solving the problem of the deficit of imported APIs, could be an appeal by the Ukrainian embassies to the governments of the countries in which APIs are produced.
“We need to consider real steps. This can be help from our embassies, which can appeal to the governments of the states where APIs are produced, for example, China or India, so that they somehow pay attention to Ukraine, increase quotas. Although we understand that the effect of this is unlikely will take place, since the United States, the EU, and the whole world, which is in line, turn to these governments,” he said.
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) and the vertically integrated group of mining and metallurgical companies Metinvest have announced the signing of a loan agreement in the amount of EUR 62 million to finance and refinance the purchase of machinery and equipment for its iron ore enterprises (GOK).
“The seven-year credit facility was granted with a two-year grace period for principal repayment,” the group said in a press release.
“This news marks the culmination of significant efforts since July and is an important milestone in our history, as the facility is our first from an international financial institution. At Metinvest, we share the values of BSTDB and intend to use this financing to make our business more efficient, as well as to increase our overall contribution towards the Black Sea region’s economic wellbeing,” Yuriy Ryzhenkov, the Chief Executive Officer of Metinvest, said.
“Working with an international financial institution has been a highly positive new experience for Metinvest. I would like to express my gratitude to the BSTDB team for their continued support throughout the process and for helping to make this transaction happen. We are proud of this new partnership and are eager to develop it further,” Alexander Lyubarev, the Director of Corporate Finance and Treasury at Metinvest, reported.
“We are happy to assist Metinvest, a leading manufacturer and employer in Ukraine, in implementing its development and capital expenditure program focused on improved production technology, efficiency and environmental impact. Given the importance of this sector to the country and its export potential, this operation will have an important developmental impact in Ukraine. As a regional development bank, we welcome that the group plans to buy new equipment from and export its products to other BSTDB member countries, thus strengthening the regional cooperation,” BSTDB President Dmitry Pankin noted.
In 2021, Canada and Ukraine will modernize the free trade agreement (FTA), Ambassador of Canada to Ukraine Larisa Galadza said.
“This year will be important because its [the agreement] modernization, including services, is envisaged. Therefore, I look forward to working in this direction,” Galadza said at an online discussion at Kyiv Security Forum on Friday.
She said that Ukraine needs to continue to work towards reforming the justice system.
“This is extremely important for Ukrainian citizens and also for bilateral relations, if we want to strengthen them, especially trade relations,” Galadza said.
The ambassador also expressed her hope that in 2021 there will be an opportunity to simplify the process of travel between Canada and Ukraine. “Connections between people are exactly what shapes our bilateral relations. I mean those people who travel from Ukraine to Canada and vice versa. I think that over the next year we will have opportunities to simplify this process, clarify, something like a normal life after a year that has passed,” she said.
In addition, the diplomat said that on January 1, an agreement between Canada and Ukraine on the joint production of audiovisual products comes into force.
Galadza said that another area of bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and Canada is the continuation of work towards ensuring fairness, accountability, transparency regarding the shooting down of UIA flight by Iran.
“We must ensure justice, transparency for families, and we will continue to work together to make the skies safer for all people who fly and, unfortunately, who have to travel to conflict areas,” she said.
The ambassador said that Canada will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine.
“Ukraine can certainly rely on the fact that Canada will invariably and uncompromisingly support territorial integrity, not only through tactical exercises that we organize for the Armed Forces of Ukraine as they prepare to be deployed in Donbas, but also in the format of multilateral forums and initiatives, like the Crimean platform,” the diplomat said.
She said Canada will also continue to accompany Ukraine on the path of reforms.
