Ukraine: Daily Briefing – May 4, 2018, 5 PM Kyiv time

The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported at 12:30 PM Kyiv time that in the last 24 hours, no Ukrainian soldiers were killed or wounded in action. In the last 24 hours, Russian-terrorist forces opened fire on Ukrainian positions 55 times in total, including at least 16 times with heavy weapons – mortars and artillery. Russian-terrorist forces shelled civilian areas of Zaytseve with mortars and artillery, damaging six residential buildings. No civilians were injured.

Ukraine’s Presidential Administration reported, “President Petro Poroshenko informed the National Security and Defense Council members of the course of negotiations with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on the initiative to grant the Tomos of Autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

           ‘You see that this initiative has been actively supported in the world – our Ukrainian Diaspora, political figures, church hierarchs supported these initiative,” President Petro Poroshenko emphasized. He thanked every member of the parliament who had voted to support the Appeal of the President to His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

           Petro Poroshenko emphasized that the given Appeal was in no way an interference of the authorities and the state in the affairs of the church: ‘I would like to emphasize again that this is by no means an interference of the state in the church affairs. I emphasize again that I am a strong opponent of state interference in church affairs.’

         ‘Especially when this state is foreign. Especially when it is an aggressor. Especially when there is the announcement of the Ukrainian territory a canonical territory of the church of another state. This is an encroachment on our territorial integrity,’ the President emphasized.

        The Head of State expressed hope for a positive decision on granting the Tomos of Autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church. ‘Ukrainians have won their right to the Autocephalous Church. And today, we hope that His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will make efforts and after the ongoing consultations they will be approved by the Synod, and this process will be completed by granting the Tomos to Ukraine,’ he said.

        Petro Poroshenko called on all Ukrainians: ‘Fight and pray. Pray that this will happen as soon as possible’.”

Reuters reported on May 3, “Ukraine’s new corruption court, whose creation is a key condition set by Western aid donors, should be ready to hear its first cases early next year, General Prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko said. […]

           While slow progress in tackling corruption has been an obstacle in Ukraine’s efforts to fulfill requirements for a long-delayed loan tranche from the International Monetary Fund, Lutsenko said he expected the final law on setting up the anti-corruption court to pass before parliament’s summer recess.

          The parliament had approved a draft law on the court in March. ‘(Then) after six or eight months it is possible to hear the first cases,’ Lutsenko said on the sidelines of an event at London think-tank Chatham House. […]

          While policy makers in Kyiv were still in discussion with the International Monetary Fund, Lutsenko was optimistic plans would be amended to take IMF concerns into account.

          ‘There is a little bit of discussion about the system of testing the judges, because the IMF set us requirements that are so high,’ he said.

          He said the type of cases which should be heard by the court had also been another subject of debate. ‘We should choose a common solution with IMF in these two points.'”

The Financial Times reported on May 2, “Russian military spending fell by one-fifth in 2017 compared with a year earlier, the first cut in real terms since 1998 as sanctions and economic stagnation force a redistribution of scarce funds.

Moscow spent US$66.35bn or 4.3 per cent of GDP on the military last year, down from 5.5 per cent of GDP in 2016, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said on Wednesday.

           The think-tank, backed by the Swedish government, is one of the most authoritative providers of information on conflicts, military spending and the arms trade worldwide. The fall in spending means Russia has been overtaken by Saudi Arabia as the world’s third-largest military spender.

          The real-terms drop is the clearest sign yet of the economic strains on Vladimir Putin’s quest to resurrect Russia as a great power, which the Russian president has pursued through a series of geopolitical challenges. […]

          A precipitous drop in oil prices in 2014 plus western sanctions over Russia’s Ukraine meddling – which blocked long-term foreign funding – forced Mr. Putin to limit military spending.”