The head of the parliamentary committee on foreign policy and interparliamentary cooperation, Oleksandr Merezhko (Sluzha Naroda faction) has decided to run for president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for 2023.
“I am sincerely grateful to my colleagues for supporting my decision to run for president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,” Merezhko said on Facebook on Saturday.
According to the people’s deputy, one of the points of his election program is restoration of democracy inside PACE: “Anti-democratic system of presidential elections, which exists now, and which is, in fact, elections without elections, should be replaced by real competitive elections”.
Merezhko also believes that PACE “must decisively get rid of any Russian or pro-Russian influence” and make these changes unavoidable, preventing a return to a policy of dialogue with Russia.
According to Merezhko, PACE must expand its human rights protection system and actively oppose human rights violations and crimes against human rights committed by countries that are not members of the Council of Europe.
Merezhko released a scan of a letter from MPs to the European inter-parliamentary organization supporting his nomination as a candidate for PACE president.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski called for a review of the law on national minorities adopted in December, some provisions of which have drawn criticism from the Romanian side.
“Passed on to President Zelenski Romanian concerns about the recently passed law on minorities and agreed to intensify dialogue to find solutions that provide the highest standards of protection for the Romanian community in Ukraine, similar to the Ukrainian community in Romania,” Johannis wrote on Twitter.
According to the press service of the Presidential Administration of Romania, the presidents agreed that in the near future, the foreign ministers of the two countries will hold discussions on the bilateral solution of existing issues.
As it was reported, Zelenski signed the bill No. 8224 on December 29, 2022. The document establishes the definition of “national minorities (communities)”; rights, freedoms and obligations of persons belonging to national minorities, peculiarities of state policy on implementation of rights and freedoms of representatives of national minorities, the powers of the central executive body implementing the state policy on protection of rights and freedoms of persons belonging to national minorities.
Article 5 of the draft Law “Rights, Freedoms and Obligations of Persons Belonging to National Minorities (Communities)” guarantees citizens of Ukraine regardless of their ethnic origin, belonging or not belonging to national minorities (communities) the civil, political, social, economic, cultural and linguistic rights and freedoms defined by the Constitution.
A person belonging to a national minority (community) also has the right to self-identification, freedom of public associations and peaceful assembly, freedom of expression of views and beliefs, thought, speech, conscience and religion; participation in political, economic and social life; use of national minority language; education, including in national minority languages; preservation of cultural identity of national community.
Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania criticized the draft law, noting that the Verkhovna Rada adopted it without additional consultations with the Venice Commission and additional consultations with representatives of the Romanian diaspora in Ukraine. In particular, the Romanian side criticized the unclear regulation of the language of education and the use of languages of national minorities in documentation.
The Pechersk district court of Kiev decided on a measure of restraint in the form of detention with an alternative to bail of 9 million 880 thousand UAH to the president of the Ukrainian Football Association (UFA) Andrey Pavelko, bail has already been paid for him, reports the newspaper “Ukrainian Truth”.
“Today there was a meeting of the Pechersky court. Unfortunately, the court did not listen to our arguments and decided to arrest with the possibility of bail. Bail has already been paid. It was paid by the UAF. Now the legal procedures are being finalized to confirm the payment. And we hope that Pavelko will soon appear in the UAF office and will continue to perform his duties,” the newspaper quotes UAF lawyer Denis Bugai as saying.
According to him, the term of arrest is two months. Bail is 9 mln 880 thousand UAH.
According to Ukrayinska Pravda, Pavelko is being held at the Main Investigative Police Department. The UAF expects that “in a few hours” the bail issue will be resolved and he will be released.
“The investigation states that there is a seizure (Pavelko – IF) of UAF funds. This is not true. The funds in question are payments for services provided to the UAF by the famous soccer referee Pierluigi Collina. They had all this evidence, but this evidence was not submitted to the court, but hidden”, – said Bugai.
According to the newspaper, the criminal proceedings were investigated for over three years by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), then it was transferred to the police. It is about possible corruption of the FFU in the construction of soccer fields, which the NABU investigated in 2018.
According to the UAF lawyer, Pavelko and UAF general secretary Yuriy Zapisotskiy have been notified of suspicion under the article on embezzlement of funds as part of the investigation.
Employees of the Security Service of Ukraine have detained Vyacheslav Boguslayev, president of Motor Sich JSC, who is suspected of collaborating and working for the Russian Federation, the press center of the SBU reported.
In addition, law enforcement officers detained the head of the Department of Foreign Economic Activity of this enterprise.
The suspects were announced on suspicion under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, in particular, Art. 111-1 (collaboration activity) and art. 111-2 (complicity with the aggressor state).
The SBU noted that the detention took place within the framework of criminal proceedings on the illegal supply by Motor Sich of military goods for Russian attack aircraft.
According to the materials of the investigation, the management of the plant located in Zaporozhye is involved in the deal. Officials acted in collusion with representatives of the Russian corporation Rostec, which is one of the main arms manufacturers for Russia, close to the Kremlin.
“The attackers have established transnational channels for the illegal supply of wholesale lots of Ukrainian aircraft engines to the aggressor country. The occupiers used the resulting products for the production and repair of Russian attack helicopters of the Mi-8AMTSh-VN “Sapson”, KO-52 “Alligator”, Mi-28N “Night Hunter” types “, the message says.
It has been established that the invaders massively used the corresponding models of army aviation for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This is confirmed by numerous facts of the destruction of enemy combat helicopters by our defenders.
“To circumvent the established restrictions on trade with the Russian Federation, the organizers of the scheme used controlled commercial structures in three countries of the Middle East, Europe and East Asia. It was these companies that sent the order to the Ukrainian manufacturer, allegedly for the needs of the foreign side,” the report says.
At the same time, after receiving military products, “intermediaries” forwarded them to Russia. The enemy also used his foreign accomplices to repair and maintain their own aircraft using Ukrainian spare parts.
During the investigation, the Security Service officers identified all the organizers of the transactions, documented their criminal actions and carried out comprehensive measures to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Vyacheslav Boguslaev, President of JSC “Motor Sich” – one of the largest enterprises in Europe for the production of aircraft engines. Prior to the sale of a controlling stake in the Chinese company Skyrizon, which was frozen by the court, he was the largest shareholder of the enterprise.
Born in 1938, in 1966 he graduated from the Zaporozhye Machine-Building Institute with a degree in Aircraft Engines, since 1973 he has been the director of the Volochisk Machine-Building Plant, since 1988 he has been the general director of the Zaporizhzhya PO “Motorostroitel”.
Boguslaev headed Motor Sich in 1991. Since 1994 – the head of the board and general director of Motor Sich OJSC.
Since 2006, the people’s deputy of Ukraine of 5-8 convocations, and since 2019, the president of Motor Sich JSC and the general designer for the creation and modernization of helicopter technology.
Latif Rashid on Thursday became the President of Iraq following a vote in Parliament, which marked the beginning of the formation of the Iraqi government – a year after the parliamentary elections in the country, Rudaw reports.
Rashid beat his opponent, former Iraqi President Barham Saleh, by 63 votes. In total, 162 deputies voted for Rashid.
Mohammed al-Sudani, who is running for the new prime minister, is expected to form a government within 30 days.
Previously, Rashid served as the Minister of Water Resources of Iraq, and was also a representative of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party.
Protests against corruption in Iraq caused early parliamentary elections in the country in October 2021. However, elected parliamentarians could not form a government due to disagreements between political blocs over the mechanisms for its formation.
Verkhovna Rada Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk will speak at the European Parliament and possibly meet with French President Emanuel Macron.
“First of all, in France, I will work on the parliamentary line…. A possible meeting with President Macron is being worked out, if the schedule allows,” Stefanchuk said on the air of the national telethon on Sunday.
According to Stefanchuk, in addition to Paris, he will visit Strasbourg and speak at the European Parliament.
“We will also work in Strasbourg, in the European Parliament. I will have a meeting with the leadership of the European Parliament and a speech in the European Parliament, and meetings with the main political groups of the European Parliament in order to enlist their support at this final stage,” Stefanchuk said.
He also did not rule out meetings with heads of other institutions of the European Union.
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, FRANCE, PRESIDENT, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT
