More fallout from the UN Security Council vote:
From the managing editor of The Moscow Times:
We are now closing the live blog for today, but we'll be back again tomorrow morning to cover all the latest developments. Until then, you can keep up with all our other Ukraine coverage here.
Good morning,
We'll start the live blog today with a couple of notable items that surfaced while we were away:
A progress report of sorts:
Here's an excerpt:
The more one delves into banking in Ukraine, the more difficulties emerge. As soon as one problem has been resolved, a new one appears. The problems are many but they can be resolved.
The first big headache is to get paid.
Especially big Ukrainian businessmen have a habit of not paying anybody, which is a convenient way of enrichment for many in the elite. To begin with the legal base needs to be improved. Creditors’ rights need to be reinforced so that bankers can claim collaterals of debtors and sell it off in case they do not pay. Half a dozen laws need to be promulgated.
The next problem is the judicial system, about which nothing positive can be said.
The Prosecutor General’s Office is famous for not going after important people, while it is seemingly quite successful at extortion. A new real office of prosecution needs to be built up with new staff.
The court system seems to get worse the higher up a matter gets. Therefore, serious cases are likely to lose. If contrary to expectation a sensible verdict is passed, the collection services of the Ministry of Justice have a rather poor reputation of not collecting. Private collection services have too restricted rights, which should be broadened.
In addition, Ukrainian banks have three big problems, their biggest customers, their managers and their owners. Many members of the Ukrainian elite enjoy parliamentary immunity, which they also apply toward banks.
Read more here.