Georgia demands to extradite Saakashvili

Recently, Georgia’s Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani demanded that Ukraine extradite ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili. “We would have a totally different reaction if Saakashvili was just a citizen of Ukraine, not a person on the wanted list and convicted in Georgia,” stated David Zalkaliani.

He pointed out that a strategic partnership envisages respect for each other's sovereignty in established international practice. The Georgia’s Foreign Ministry recalled its ambassador Teymuraz Sharashenidze in Kiev for consultations in Tbilisi after Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky appointed Saakashvili as his top adviser.

This is seen by some analysts as a remarkable political comeback for the former Georgian leader.

It is important to note that Saakashvili has been repeatedly convicted in Georgia. Nana Kakabadze, leader of the NGO Former Political Prisoners for Human Rights, revealed that Georgia under Saakashvili took first place in the world by the number of prisoners. Reportedly, the Saakashvili regime tortured and raped inmates in Georgian prisons, attempting to bribe human rights activists.

And it is worth noting too that all decisions on the former president of Georgia and ex-governor of the Odessa region under the Poroshenko regime, Mikheil Saakashvili, made by Georgian courts are valid in Ukraine as well.

Readers of The Ukrainian Times know that in August 2008 President Vladimir Putin sent a Russian force against the U.S. and Israeli trained and supplied Georgian army, which Saakashvili sent to attack South Ossetia. According to Paul Craig Roberts, Chairman of the Institute for Political Economy, the Russian Army liberated South Ossetia in five days, teaching the morons the lesson.

Ultramodern lab opened at KPI

The teaching IT laboratory, which has recently opened at the Faculty of Electronics of the Kiev Polytechnic Institute named for Igor Sikorsky (KPI), will be accessible to all students.

According to KPI First Vice-Rector Yuri Yakimenko, this lab is outfitted with the latest equipment that enables the overarching training of students. They will be learning how to write software for various specialized systems.

Lab space is divided into two parts. The first part is the specialized computer classroom where students will be engaged in software engineering. The second part is a zone containing specialized instrumentation equipment, function generators and soldering stations. Thanks to these resources, students will be capable of creating an end product.

Leading Ukrainian institutes develop systems of testing for COVID-19

Ukrainian scientists created the first systems of testing for the COVID-19 coronavirus on the basis of Chinese developments.

According to Aleksey Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, immediately Chinese authorities provided the genetic code of the new virus, the Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and the epigenetics laboratory at the Institute of Gerontology of the National Academy of Medical Sciences started developing their own tests.

Importantly, Ukrainian tests are about 4-5 times cheaper than their German counterparts that were purchased earlier.

В УКРАИНЕ РЕКОМЕНДАЦИИ МВФ ПРОВАЛИЛИСЬ

По мнению президента Украинского аналитического центра Александра Охрименко, Украина, скорее всего, не получит новых кредитов от Международного валютного фонда (МВФ). Он считает, что в этом ничего страшного нет, поскольку страна давно в них не нуждается.

Украина уже больше года живёт без денег МВФ и нормально справляется с выплатой долгов. Это понимают и в самом Фонде. Просто сейчас так называемые эксперты МВФ не хотят признать, что все их рекомендации провалились, и поэтому делают вид, что ведут переговоры и якобы о чём-то договариваются.

It's no mystery that crime is most popular genre among readers

Recent polls show that the most popular genres among Ukrainian readers are crime fiction (41% of respondents), historical works (36%) and love stories (27%). As Sophie Hannah, a bestselling novelist and poet, put it, many literary novels have fantastic plots, and some crime novels are as dull as a puddle in a potholed pavement – nevertheless, as a genre, crime always promises suspense and action in a way that general and literary fiction does not.

At the same time, male (20%) are far more likely than female (12%) respondents to prefer genres such as science fiction, popular science literature (16% versus 9%) and fantasy (14% vs. 9%). By contrast, women (42%) are more likely than men (6%) to have a preference for love stories and fairy tales (10% vs. 2%).

Most Ukrainians don't trust their democracy, survey finds

Polls indicate that the citizens of Ukraine, who give preference to money over democracy, are still more than those who value democracy above grivnas. According to official figures, 47% of respondents believe that prosperity is more important than democracy, with 38% thinking the opposite.

Residents of the cities of Mariupol (22% of respondents) and Odessa (22%), as well as Nikolaev (24%), are the least supportive of democracy. A majority of Khmelnitsky and Zhitomir residents (24%) have not decided which category is more important to them.

Reportedly, dissatisfaction with democracy is rooted in the belief that democracy is not working – that it is unable or unwilling to deal with citizens’ demands and concerns. And there is evidence the dissatisfied are right: over time, politicians, parties and governments have become less responsive to a broad cross-section of Ukrainian opinion.

According to Sheri Berman, a professor of political science at Barnard College, Columbia University, democracy is, by definition, “rule by the people”. This does not require a perfect correspondence between some impossible to define “will of the people” and political outcomes, but it does require that the divergence between the two not be too great. In addition, political equality is the heart of democracy: some citizens cannot be systematically and permanently more powerful or impactful than others. It is hard to recognize much less solve large social and economic problems if politicians, parties and governments are primarily responsive to elites or narrow groups of voters, rather than broad, cross-sections of the population.

Pension spending to account for 9.8% of GDP

According to the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, 25% of the population is officially employed, while 27% of Ukrainian citizens receive pensions. Over the course of last year a monthly pension increased by 16.5% and has averaged 3,830 grivnas in this cash-strapped East European country as of January 1.

Natalya Nenyuchenko, Deputy Minister of Social Policy, said pension spending accounted for 11% of GDP last year. In 2020 it is expected to make up 9.8% of GDP.

Polls say grivna undervalued against dollar, euro

Recent polls show that a majority of the Ukrainian public believe that the current exchange rate of the grivna is either significantly (16% of the respondents) or slightly (17%) undervalued against the dollar and the euro.

Ukrainians' views of future grivna prospects are, on the whole, optimistic. Specifically, 31% of respondents believe that its rate against the USD/EUR currency pair will increase, and 30% expect the grivna to remain within the current range of currency fluctuations. Only 12% of Ukrainian citizens expect a fall in the exchange rate of the grivna.

According to James Rickards, editor of the Strategic Intelligence newsletter, major currencies do not go to zero but they move back and forth against each other like two kids on a seesaw moving up and down and not going anywhere in relation to the seesaw. The USD/EUR cross-rate is a good example. In the past 20 years, the value of the euro has been as low as $0.80 and as high as $1.60.

Russian Orthodox Church cuts ties with Patriarch of Alexandria

Photograph: Galina Davydova

The autocephaly of the so-called Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) was recognized by the first-hierarchs of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and the Church of Greece last year.

To retaliate, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) has broken communion with those hierarchs of the Church of Greece, who have recognized the OCU and will concelebrate with schismatics. Many Orthodox churches, such as those in other Slavic lands, will follow the ROC in insisting that the only canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine is the one remaining in communion with Moscow, and may well take measures in support of its position.

In addition, the Moscow Patriarchate has recently made the decision to rupture all links with Patriarch Theodoros II of Alexandria. The ROC Holy Synod also decided that its parishes in Africa will be removed from the Patriarchate of Alexandria’s jurisdiction and made directly subordinate to the ROC head, Patriarch Kirill.

In Russia, six subs to be built for Pacific Fleet

Recently, the St. Petersburg-based Admiralty Shipyards has launched the new generation diesel-electric attack submarine Volkhov.

The submarine belongs to the Kilo-class boats - more accurately referred to as the Varshavyanka class - and is being built for the needs of the Pacific Fleet. The main function of Varshavyanka/Kilo-class subs is to serve as “sub-hunters,” seeking out and destroying larger and louder ballistic-missile boats before they can hit land-based targets — such as the nuclear warhead-equipped submarines that are one-third of the nuclear deterrent in both the U.K. and the United States — and to interdict other shipping in “shallow waters”.

Volkhov is the second Project 636.3 submarine. The lead ship of the series, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, has already been delivered to the Pacific Fleet.

Reportedly, Volkhov will be completed on the water. The heart of the submarine is a power plant with two 1,000-kilowatt diesel generators and a 5,500 horsepower electric motor.

In addition, Volkhov is equipped with two standby 102 horsepower electric motors. It has a small crew of 52 sailors. The submarine is capable of cruising autonomously for 45 days and submerging to a depth of 300 meters.

Overall, plans are afoot to build six Varshavyanka/Kilo-class subs for the Pacific Fleet. They are expected to be completed in November 2022.

Ukrainian university students competed in Polish dictation in Ivano-Frankovsk

By Kristina Galitskaya and Yekaterina Ignatova

The All-Ukrainian Polish orthography competition, supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Ukraine, took place at a university in the city of Ivano-Frankovsk on November 15, 2019. The participants came to Ivano-Frankovsk from nine Ukrainian cities including Kiev, Odessa and Mariupol. Thirty nine students from 22 universities wrote a text dictated by Elzhbieta Rachynska-Skorupska. Based on a real story, the plot was authentic.

The purpose of the competition was to popularize Polish culture and encourage students to discover the world of Polish orthography.

Two students of the Faculty of Linguistics have successfully represented the Kiev-based Igor Sikorsky Polytechnic Institute in the competition. Presented with diplomas and commemorative gifts, all the participants have got not only experience but unforgettable impressions, as well as made useful acquaintances.

Apart from doing the dictation the competitors made a city tour and had a chance to immerse themselves in a fantastic atmosphere. And the cherry on top was an excursion to the town of Yaremche, Ivano-Frankovsk region.

"That was a great opportunity to meet Polish language lovers and share time with them in Ivano-Frankovsk," said one of the participants from the Kamyanets-Podolsky University. "We're impatient for the next meetings!"