Argentine authorities have officially informed the leaders of the BRICS member countries of their decision not to join the association, Argentine newspaper Clarin reported Friday, citing sources in the Argentine government.
“The government has sent letters with this information to the presidents of each of the BRICS countries to make official the decision made a few weeks ago,” the newspaper wrote.
Later, Argentine President Javier Milay confirmed the country’s refusal to join the association in official letters sent to the leaders of BRICS member countries.
“Some decisions taken by the previous government will be reconsidered. Among them is the creation of a specialized unit for the country’s active participation in BRICS,” Milei said in a letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
“At this stage, Argentina’s accession to BRICS as a full member as of January 1, 2024, does not seem appropriate,” Miley added.
Milay, who came to power earlier this year, opposed Argentina’s accession to BRICS as early as during his election campaign. In late November, Diana Mondino, who was then set to take over as foreign minister, said that “Argentina will not join BRICS” because it could not make the contribution to join the BRICS New Development Bank.
Argentina, along with Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, was invited to join the grouping as of January 1, 2024.
Law enforcers have reported the suspicion of Yevhen Chernyak, an entrepreneur and owner of one of Ukraine’s largest alcoholic holdings, as well as six top managers of his companies. They are suspected of financing Russia’s armed aggression, the Security Service of Ukraine said.
“The security service has collected the evidence base on the owner of one of the largest alcoholic holdings of Ukraine Evgeny Chernyak, who is suspected of financing armed aggression rf. According to the investigation, despite the full-scale invasion, his companies continued to do business with the aggressor country,” the SBU said in a statement on its Telegram channel on Friday night.
Reportedly, during 2022 only in the form of payment of taxes and fees controlled by Chernyak companies transferred to the budget of the Russian Federation about 6 billion in the hryvnia equivalent. The investigation documented that the enterprises of the defendant, located in four countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus, purchased industrial quantities of alcohol and other related products in Russia. During searches in the office premises of the holding in Ukraine, documents and other physical evidence of illegal activities in favor of the aggressor country were found.
“Based on the collected evidence, the investigators of the security service reported on suspicion Chernyak and 6 other top managers of his companies on part 2 of article 28, article 111-2 of the Criminal code of Ukraine (aiding the state-aggressor, committed by prior conspiracy by a group of persons)”, – informs the SBU.
Reportedly, the issue of seizure of their private and corporate property for transfer to the ARMA management is now being decided. The investigation was conducted under the procedural guidance of the Kyiv regional Prosecutor’s office.
According to open sources, Chernyak, the founder of the Khortytsa brand, is the head of the supervisory board of the Global Spirits alcohol holding company.
financing Russia's armed aggression, GLOBAL SPIRITS, Khortytsa, SBU, Yevhen Chernyak
State-owned enterprise National Atomic Energy Generating Company Energoatom has been transformed into a joint-stock company with 100% of its shares owned by the state, Cabinet of Ministers representative in the Verkhovna Rada Taras Melnychuk said in Telegram. According to him, the government decisions adopted on Friday provide for the establishment of Energoatom JSC, approval of its charter and provisions on the supervisory board and principles of its formation.
“It is established that the joint-stock company is the legal successor of all property and non-property rights and obligations of SE NAEK Energoatom from the date of state registration of the joint-stock company,” Melnychuk specified.
“Corporatization according to the best international standards will strengthen the quality of management, transparency and accountability of the company. It also opens up new opportunities for the development of our nuclear power industry and partnership with international companies,” – says the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal.
As reported, the plan to transform Energoatom into a JSC, 100% owned by the state, was approved by Government Order No. 571-r of June 27, 2023. The process should be completed by March 2024.
The start of the tender procedure for the election of members of the NAEK’s nabsoobet by November 30, 2023 and the transformation of the SOE into a JSC by December 31, 2023, in particular, is a condition for Ukraine to receive an additional $100 million in energy assistance.
“Energoatom is the operator of all four operating nuclear power plants in Ukraine. It operates the Zaporizhzhya, Pivdenno-Ukrainian, Rivne and Khmelnytskyi plants with 15 power units equipped with water-water power reactors, with a total installed electrical capacity of 13.8 GW. ZNPP with a capacity of 6 GW has been under the occupation of the Russian Federation since May 4, 2022.
Developers note a high demand for the eHouse program, but there are still not enough transactions to have a noticeable effect on the primary housing market, according to developers interviewed by Interfax-Ukraine.
“At present, the number of apartments purchased under the eHouse program in residential complexes under construction does not exceed 1%. For a more or less tangible impact of the state mortgage on the primary market, this figure should increase to at least 25-30% of the loans issued – up to 200-250 mortgages per month,” said Volodymyr Sementsov, co-founder and managing partner of INSPI Development.
Daria Bedia, Marketing Director of DIM Group, expressed a similar opinion. According to her, while there are not enough transactions under the eOselya program in the primary market, at the same time, installment offers from the developer are in demand.
“We do not believe in eHouse in particular because of the insufficient volumes in the primary market: when at least 300 loans out of 1,000 per month are issued in the primary market, it will feel a certain effect. However, we have hopes for compensation certificates for destroyed housing. They can give an incentive to the market recovery next year,” the expert believes.
According to her, DIM has increased the number of financial instruments for buyers, including long-term installment programs for up to seven years, exchange rate fixing, and discounts. The company also offers individualized installment terms and discounts for military personnel, including installments in hryvnia without reference to the exchange rate and free white box finishing.
KAN Development also offers special conditions for purchasing housing in its projects, including long-term installment plans from the developer. The company noted a small number of transactions under the eOselya program, while the developer has already received the first requests for housing under the housing certificate program.
As of the end of December, Ukraine harvested 79.2 mln tonnes of the 2023 harvest, including 58.392 mln tonnes of grains and 20.764 mln tonnes of oilseeds.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, the harvest of grains and pulses was carried out on the area of 10542 thou hectares with the yield of 55.4 c/ha.
Compared to the same date a year ago, the total harvest is 23.6% higher, or 15.02 million tons, including 19.7% higher, or 9.59 million tons, of grains and 18.5% higher, or 3.26 million tons, of oilseeds. At the same time, it should be taken into account that this year corn has been harvested from 86% of the area so far, while a year ago – from 78%.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the yields of the main crops in 2023 were as follows: wheat – 47.9 c/ha compared to 40.5 c/ha a year earlier, barley – 39.3 c/ha (34.7 c/ha), corn – 78.1 c/ha (64.6 c/ha), peas – 25.9 c/ha (22.8 c/ha) buckwheat – 14.8 c/ha (13.7 c/ha), millet – 22.7 c/ha (22.8 c/ha), sunflower – 23.9 c/ha (21.7 c/ha), soybeans – 26.5 c/ha (24.3 c/ha), and rapeseed – 28.7 c/ha (28.6 c/ha).
In addition, 11.879 million tons of sugar beet were harvested from 249.1 thousand hectares. Although its yield this year, unlike grains and oilseeds, is lower than last year – 477 c/ha compared to 501 c/ha, due to the expansion of the area by 38.3%, the harvest is 31.9% higher than last year and amounts to 11.879 million tons of sweet roots.
As reported, this season winter wheat plantings amounted to 4166 thou hectares (-834 thou hectares compared to the previous one), winter barley – 536 thou hectares (-255 thou hectares), and rapeseed – 1374 thou hectares (+110 thou hectares).
According to the newly revised forecast of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, in 2023, farmers will be able to harvest 81.3 mln tons of grains and oilseeds, including 59.7 mln tons of grains and 21.6 mln tons of oilseeds.
“DTEK Energy has put into operation all 26 coal longwalls planned for this year, DTEK Energy CEO Ildar Saleev said on his Facebook page.
“I can state that thanks to their hard work, the miners have coped with this task this year. We produced as much as we planned. For this purpose, we invested about UAH 7 billion in Ukrainian coal mining during the year, which is almost twice as much as in 2022,” he wrote.
Saleyev also reminded that as part of the “additional airbag” formation, the company has contracted 280 thousand tons of imported thermal coal for the current heating season, and as of today, more than half of it has already been delivered from Poland – almost 150 thousand tons.
“We are not stopping there, because everyone has the same task – to continue to hold the energy front so that Ukrainians have electricity and heat,” summarized the CEO.
“DTEK Energy provides a closed cycle of electricity generation from coal. As of January 2022, the installed capacity of thermal power generation amounted to 13.3 GW. The company has established a full production cycle in coal mining: coal mining and enrichment, mechanical engineering and maintenance of mine equipment.
