WASHINGTON, D.C. December 3, 2014


TO: NCSEJ Leadership and Interested Parties

FROM: Stephen M. Greenberg, NCSEJ Chairman;
Alexander Smukler, NCSEJ President;
Mark B. Levin, NCSEJ Executive Director  

 

Ukraine Update #58

 

The Verkhovna Rada approved a new government yesterday, after more than a month of negotiations among the five parties that gained parliamentary representation in October's elections.

 

Arseniy Yatsenyuk will continue as Prime Minister. The Rada also confirmed reappointments of the Defense, Foreign, and Interior Ministers (please refer to the box below for the complete list of Cabinet appointments.)

 

In a historic development, Volodymyr Groysman, a Jewish member of Parliament from President Petro Poroshenko's Bloc, was confirmed as speaker of the parliament. He had previously served as Mayor of Vinnytsia and Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine.

 

In an unusual move, the new appointments included three foreigners: Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, a former U.S. diplomat, Lithuanian-born Aivaras Abromavicius, who will serve as Economy Minister, and Alexander Kvitashvili, a Georgian native, who was confirmed as the new Health Minister.

 

Deputies of the Opposition Bloc, the party most closely associated with ousted President Yanukovych, harshly criticized the decision to include foreigners in the cabinet. In an address to the Rada, President Poroshenko said that the country needs foreign expertise. Some analysts have also speculated that Poroshenko's inclusion of foreigners in the new government is motivated by popular distrust of Ukrainian politicians, who are widely viewed as corrupt and ineffective.

 

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden welcomed the formation of a new Ukrainian government, calling it a crucial step in "the difficult but necessary process of implementing reforms and delivering results."

 

The new government will need to act swiftly. Ukraine continues to slide into deeper economic depression, and discontent is growing in Donbas over the government's decision to stop funding public services in the region, including schools and hospitals.

 

Meanwhile, unrest in Eastern Ukraine continues. As pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian government reaffirmed their commitment to a ceasefire during talks yesterday in Luhansk, fighting broke out around the Donetsk airport. Ukrainian authorities said that Russian special forces were involved in this latest outbreak of violence.

 

In a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels yesterday, NATO condemned Russia for its "deliberate destabilization" of Ukraine. NATO also pledged to continue to support Ukraine, including helping to upgrade Ukraine's military defense, communications, logistics, and medical rehabilitation for wounded soldiers.

 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking from the meeting in Brussels, expressed his support for Ukraine's territorial integrity, and his commitment to maintaining economic pressure on Russia. Secretary Kerry will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov tomorrow in Basel, Switzerland, to discuss Ukraine and other issues of importance to bilateral relations.

 

The Jewish communities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are struggling to support their needy and elderly community members. The Luhansk Jewish community reported that electricity outages have affected services and community programs. Last week, the synagogue received a power generator, purchased with the financial help of a local rabbi, and for the first time in many weeks Shabbat services were held in a lit prayer hall.

 

Jewish representatives from Donetsk said that the community as well as the general population is struggling to survive in the war-torn region. Residents of rebel-controlled areas now need to travel to government-controlled regions to receive state salaries and pensions. They said that the infrastructure and industry in Donbas have been almost completely destroyed, and that recovery might take years or decades.

 

Kharkiv Jewish community representatives reported continued growth in emigration. While the Kharkiv region has not been subject to prolonged armed conflict, several incidents have shaken the city in recent weeks, including a bomb explosion yesterday. Residents are concerned that these incidents are orchestrated by pro-Russian supporters trying to destabilize the region.

 

Potentially exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, one of the reactors of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant was shut down last week, intensifying Ukraine's energy shortage.

 

As always, NCSEJ will continue to monitor the situation and provide you with timely and critical updates.

 

 

Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers (as of 12/3/2014)

 

Prime Minister Interior Minister Justice Minister Defense Minister Finance Minister Economy Minister Foreign Minister Minister of Social Policy Infrastructure Minister Energy Minister Health Minister Agrarian Minister Minister of Ecology Minister of Sports and Family Affairs Minister of Information Minister of Infrastructure Minister of Cabinet of Ministers Deputy Prime Minister for Cultural Affairs Deputy Prime Minister for Decentralization Deputy Prime Minister for transportation industry

Arseniy Yatsenyuk Arsen Avakov Pavlo Petrenko Stepan Poltorak Natalie Jaresko Aivaras Abromavicius Pavlo Klimkin Pavlo Rozenko Andriy Pyvovarsky Volodymyr Demchyshyn Alexander Kvitashvili Oleksiy Pavlenko Ihor Shevchenko   Ihor Zhdanov Yuriy Stets Andriy Pyvovarsky   Hanna Onyshchenko   Vyacheslav Kyrylenko   Hennadiy Zubko   Valeriy Voshchevsky

People's Front Party People's Front Party People's Front Party         Petro Poroshenko's Bloc       Samopomich Batkivshchyna Party   Batkivshchyna Party Petro Poroshenko's Bloc     People's Front Party   People's Front Party       Radical Party