Poroshenko Seeks Cabinet Approval as Ukraine Sees Donetsk Truce
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko
and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk will seek legislative
approval for their proposed cabinet as the country’s military
said a truce was reached to halt fire near the Donetsk airport.
Parliament will vote today on candidates in the new
government after five parties reached an agreement to form a
coalition last week. Poroshenko will submit nominees for the
posts of defense and foreign ministers, while the rest will be
proposed by Yatsenyuk, who was approved as premier on Nov. 27.
The confirmations would end a month of uncertainty over
forming a government following Oct. 26 elections, setting the
stage for talks to secure more financial assistance as Ukraine
battles pro-Russian separatists in the east. Ukraine and its
allies blame Russia for stoking the conflict, which has killed
more than 4,300 people and left at least 10,000 wounded.
The situation “will remain volatile, unstable and in the
short term prone to another round of military hostilities,”
Andras Racz and Arkady Moshes, analysts at the Finnish Institute
of International Affairs, said in a report. “In the longer run,
however, depending on the state of reform within Ukraine in
general and its ability to create a formidable military force, a
window of opportunity may open for the settlement of the crisis
within the framework of Ukraine’s constitutional order.”
IMF Bailout
Ukraine is seeking the release of $2.8 billion installment
from a $17-billion International Monetary Fund program, to help
up shore up plunging foreign-exchange reserves and a shrinking
economy.
The country of 43 million people has struggled to recover
from Russia’s March annexation of the Crimean peninsula and
fighting in Luhansk and Donetsk, two regions that accounted for
23 percent of output before the conflict started, according to
the IMF. Economic output will fall 7 percent this year, less
than an earlier 10 percent forecast, Yatsenyuk said Nov. 18.
Government troops repelled an attack by rebels and Russian
special forces at the Donetsk airport, Ukraine’s Defense
Ministry said yesterday. The airport’s main terminal, finished
two years ago before Ukraine co-hosted the 2012 Euro
Championships, has been almost completely destroyed since it was
first stormed by rebels in May.
A truce was later negotiated with Russia to halt fire in
the area around the airport, Ukraine’s military said in a
statement. The government in Moscow denies military involvement.
South Stream
President Vladimir Putin yesterday said Russia will scrap
the South Stream gas pipeline that was designed to bypass
Ukraine by linking up directly with Bulgaria through the Black
Sea. The decision is the latest sign that economic ties with the
European Union are breaking down as the Ukraine crisis persists.
The EU has asked member states to stop the construction of the
onshore parts of the pipeline.
Shelving the pipeline means Ukraine will remain vital to
supplying energy to Europe for years to come. The link was an
“unnecessary political project” by Russia, Yatsenyuk said
yesterday.
In Kyiv, Poroshenko’s political bloc was holding
consultations on the new government. For the post of finance
minister, the president’s party is seeking the appointment of
Natalie Jaresko, a co-founder of private-equity manager Horizon
Capital, according to Interfax.
It’s also proposing Aivaras Abromavicius, a Lithuanian
national who’s a partner at East Capital, as the next economy
minister, and Volodymyr Demchyshyn, former head of investment
banking at ICU, as energy minister, the news service said,
citing Larysa Sargan, a spokeswoman for Poroshenko’s party.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Aliaksandr Kudrytski in Minsk, Belarus at
akudrytski@bloomberg.net;
Kateryna Choursina in Kyiv at
kchoursina@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Balazs Penz at
bpenz@bloomberg.net
Paul Abelsky, Ben Holland