IMF Minimizes Stakeholders’ Risks Demanding Pension Reform in Ukraine – Experts

The Gorshenin Institute has polled experts to learn the prospects of pension reform in Ukraine and whether it will be possible to receive the next tranche from the IMF by not changing pension legislation. READ MORE

• May 2, 2011

ISSUE #15
05/02/2011
Ukraine believes that the negotiations with Russia on revising the gas price formula will be successful, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said. “We have started normal talks with Russia. We put very serious arguments on the negotiating table. Russia considered them and that is why the negotiations were really good,” he explained. At the same time, Azarov noted that Ukraine did not ask Russia for any preferential treatment or discounts. “We ask for a general European approach to price formation,” he explained. According to the prime minister, the very fact that the negotiations have been launched signals “clear success.” Meanwhile, Gazprom's official representative, Sergey Kupriyanov, stated once again that the Russian gas monopolist was satisfied with the contract with Ukraine. READ MORE

• May 2, 2011

ISSUE #14
04/25/2011
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has said that Ukraine is not conducting negotiations on entering the Customs Union (CU) of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. “We are not in the process of negotiations with the CU,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Hryshchenko said in Parliament. He added that Ukraine had agreements on a free trade area (FTA) with each individual state member of the CU. READ MORE

• May 1, 2011

A snapshot of Turkey’s domestic and regional politics during April 2011

Key Points:

• Turkish leaders continue to navigate the ongoing “Arab Spring”, this time as it moves to Turkish borders with protests engulfing Syria.
• Turkey’s record with press freedom remains under scrutiny, as the NGO, Journalists Without Borders, condemns the country in the run-up to the June 12 elections.
• The political situation in Turkey’s southeast remains volatile, with the Turkish military breaking up large scale protests by Kurdish demonstrators in the city of Hakkari on April 25
• Suggestions by finance experts allude to the overheating of the Turkish economy, while the Turkish Central Bank’s new head moves to quell such speculation.
• The Turkish Prime Minister announces plans for an Istanbul canal that some experts say could replace the need for the country’s participation in the EU-driven NABUCCO gas pipeline project

• May 1, 2011

Ukrainians fear accidents at NPPs, − poll

A telephone poll was conducted by Gorshenin Institute on April 18 – 20, 2011, on the subject: “25 years after the Chernobyl NPP accident”. Overall 1000 respondents 18 years old and older were interviewed, based on a random sample, in all regional capitals of Ukraine, in Kyiv and Sevastopol. Regions of residence, gender and age of the respondents were used as quotas. The representation error of the poll does not exceed +/-3.2%. READ MORE

• May 1, 2011

Russian security forces on Friday killed 10 militants in a special operation in its violence-torn Northern Caucasus region, reports said.

• April 30, 2011

Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin has criticised Japan for its "slow" reaction to its nuclear disaster and for building nuclear reactors in earthquake-prone zones.

• April 30, 2011

Ukraine will be able to get liquefied gas from Azerbaijan in three years.

• April 30, 2011