TRANCHE IN EXCHANGE FOR THE NATURAL WEALTH

Obviously, the process of active squandering national wealth will be launched with new force. At the time when the Russian occupiers have been continuing to take out Ukrainian plants by parts from the Donbass to the territory of the Russian Federation, the situation inside the country is not much better. It became known that Ukraine's authorities are going to permit the Western "partners" to fell the Ukrainian forest.

It is expected that in the coming weeks Ukraine will remove the ban on the export of unprocessed timber that prevents obtaining tranche of macro-financial assistance from the EU. This was said by the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on November 24, after the EU-Ukraine summit in Brussels.

Juncker said he was "pleased that the Ukrainian president expressed his intention to lift the ban on timber exports. It was a condition that has been advanced." Under this condition, the EU will provide Ukraine the promised tranche of EUR 600 million.

This particular case proves once again that being depend on external forces politicians cannot effectively run the country, whatever they are pro-Moscow or pro-EU. All they can do is to exchange the priceless Ukrainian resources and strategically important enterprises on handouts from external "sponsors" or in favor of someone's business partners.

At the same time they take into account neither the damage will be inflicted to the nature nor the will of ordinary Ukrainians, who have proven their disagreement with possible lifting the moratorium; protests took place in Kyiv and Lviv.

Unfortunately the Ukrainian forests is not the only problematic area, previously we wrote about the IMF offer to lift the moratorium on land sales:

IMF OFFERS UKRAINE 1 MLN IN EXCHANGE FOR AGRICULTU...: Ron van Rooden, the head of IMF mission in Ukraine has urged the state authorities to lift the moratorium on land sales in exchange for...