Ukraine Cuts Financial Ties to Rebel Territories
Just in time for the holidays, Kiev has limited access to credit cards and bank accounts, and promised to cut off funds for hospitals and schools.
A supporter of the Donetsk People's Republic. Denis Kornilov / Shutterstock.com
Just in time for the holidays, Kiev has limited access to credit cards and bank accounts, and promised to cut off funds for hospitals and schools.
More from The Guardian:
Ukraine’s government has begun cutting off payments and banking services to areas of the country under the control of pro-Russian rebels, in a further sign that Kiev has given up trying to control the territory.
[…] Ukraine’s government has also said it will stop funding social services such as schools and hospitals in areas it does not control.
[…] “What this means in reality is the confiscation of the pensions and benefits of our veterans, pensioners, disabled people and mothers … It is an attempt to end civilised life in the Donbass region,” said the Donetsk People’s Republic in an official statement. “We think there are no legal reasons not to pay money from the budget to people based in the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics. People living on our territories have the same rights as other citizens of Ukraine.”
Rebels seem to want it both ways, declaring independence from the central government, but demanding continued financial support. Of course it’s ordinary people who suffer as a result of the ongoing feud between Kiev, the breakaway regions of the Donbass, and Moscow.
— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer
WAIT BEFORE YOU GO...This year, the ground feels uncertain — facts are buried and those in power are working to keep them hidden. Now more than ever, independent journalism must go beneath the surface.
At Truthdig, we don’t just report what's happening — we investigate how and why. We follow the threads others leave behind and uncover the forces shaping our future.
Your tax-deductible donation fuels journalism that asks harder questions and digs where others won’t.
Don’t settle for surface-level coverage.
Unearth what matters. Help dig deeper.
Donate now.
A video roundtable hosted by Truthdig Assistant Editor Alexander Reed Kelly explains why the IMF, Europe and Western corporations don’t have the country’s best interests at heart.
The Russian president has declared that all military deaths -- in peacetime as well as wartime -- will be classified as state secrets, with violations punishable by up to seven years in prison.
When the people of the Donetsk area protested imposed changes, Kyiv launched an “anti-terrorist” operation against them. I saw firsthand these “terrorists,” who had decided to build something different from the oligarchic regime. Theirs is an enormous and difficult task.
Moscow denies its soldiers are crossing the border into Ukraine. But 20-year-old Russian conscript Dorji Batomunkuev told reporters how he was seriously injured near the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.
Petro Poroshenko admits that a $17.5 billion International Monetary Fund loan and its associated austerity measures won’t improve the lives of ordinary Ukrainians -- but will help pay foreign creditors and fund the country's ongoing civil war.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.