KIEV // Ukraine’s leadership yesterday praised a Russia-financed bailout as a guarantee of financial stability, while opposition activists claimed the deal is likely to worsen economic troubles as the country’s dependence on Moscow increases.
Russian president, Vladimir Putin, on Tuesday pledged to buy US$15 billion (Dh55.1bn) worth of Ukrainian bonds and sharply cut the price of natural gas in an effort to relieve political pressure on Ukraine’s embattled president, Viktor Yanukovych.
The Ukrainian economy risks a default next year, and over the past months Yanukovych has actively lobbied both Russia and the European Union for a financial life jacket.
His decision last month to opt for a deal with Russia triggered a wave of demonstrations that have crystallised into a large, round-the-clock protest camp in Independence Square in Kiev, the country’s capital.
Prime Minister Mykola Azarov told a Cabinet meeting that the deal with Russia ensures “people’s confidence in a stable life,” while an association agreement with Europe would have given Ukraine a “New Year’s present” of “bankruptcy and social collapse,” according to the Interfax news agency.
The deal with Moscow, which apparently includes access to Russia’s market and large orders for Ukraine’s manufacturing industry, did little to appease the protesters, who have demanded that Yanukovych and Azarov resign and snap election be held in 2014.
It is unclear what Putin asked in return for his financial support, but reports suggest that Moscow wants Ukraine to purchase more natural gas and import Russian coal.
Putin said Tuesday that the two sides did not discuss Ukraine’s joining the Moscow-led Customs Union, which includes Belarus and Kazakhstan and many Ukrainians feel is an attempt to resurrect the Soviet Union. Opposition critics fear that in bailing out Ukraine, Putin might have asked Yanukovych for a commitment to join the union in the future.
Associated Press
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The biog
Favourite film: Motorcycle Dairies, Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, Kagemusha
Favourite book: One Hundred Years of Solitude
Holiday destination: Sri Lanka
First car: VW Golf
Proudest achievement: Building Robotics Labs at Khalifa University and King’s College London, Daughters
Driverless cars or drones: Driverless Cars
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013