The Verkhovna Rada increased financing of the ATO and the army is being prepared for the winter

Photo: Reuters

The Verkhovna Rada agreed to the proposal of the Cabinet of Ministers to make amendments to the tax legislation and the budget in order to increase financing of the law enforcers in the eastern part of Ukraine. The new figures of expenditures show that the military campaign in Donetsk is becoming more expensive and the terms of its completion are being protracted.

Battle taxes

Yesterday people’s deputies held a closed session of the VR at which Minister of Defense Valeriy Heletei gave an address, which lasted nearly an hour and a half. He reported on the anti-terrorist operations for 20 minutes and then the minister answered specific questions.

People’s deputy Volodymyr Kurenniy (UDAR) told Capital that Heletei reported on the course of the ATO, its results and plans. He also accounted for already allocated funds based on the expenditure line-items and argued for the need to increase financing. “There were many technical moments during the questions raised in the parliament,” said Kurreniy.

Member of Batkivshchyna Oleksandr Bryhinets noted that Heletei gave a superficial answer to questions about specific plans of the ATO, not wishing to disclose information to deputies of the Party of Regions and the Communist Party of Ukraine that were present in the parliamentary hall.

Ukraine’s defense minister turned the attention of deputies to the need to support the government bills that envisage amendments to the national budget and the Tax Code. By increasing excise fees for gas, rent for the extraction of petroleum, gas and ores, the introduction of a 1.5% “war tax” on wages of citizens, the Cabinet of Ministers promises to find an additional UAH 9 bn for the ATO.

Member of the VR Committee on National Security and Defense Ivan Stoyko noted that before voting the government and deputies agreed to exclude the norm according to which tax amendments will take effect by the end of the calendar year.

“The adoption of changes will be in effect until the end of the ATO. We have fixed the limitation to January 1, 2015,” Stoyko told Capital. He said the adoption of changes will allow for the allocation of an additional UAH 2 bn for renewal of the infrastructure in populated regions that sustained damages during the period of the ATO. Bryhinets told Capital that in his address to the parliament President Petro Poroshenko said that today the ATO is costing the country UAH 70 mn per day.

War becoming more costly

Last week Minister of Finance Oleksandr Shlapak stated that approximately UAH 1.5 bn per month are needed to conduct the anti-terrorist operation. That means that the recently allocated funds should cover the financing of the oeprationas for a minimum of half a year.

An interlocutor of the publication in the General Headquarters noted that preparations for possible conduct of military operations in the east of Ukraine this fall and winter were included in the expenditure line-items of the budget. He said at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council that this issue was already discussed. “After the active phase of the ATO the problem in the region and on the border with Russia will be resolved. This must be foreseen today,” said the interlocutor.

Presidential Advisor and people’s deputy Oleksandr Kuzmuk (Economic Development) told Capital that UAH 9 bn were anticipated by the Ministry of Defense and other structures participating in the ATO in order to put an end to it.

He said the money will be spent on announcing partial mobilization, payments to the servicemen and providing soldiers with uniforms and defense systems. “This money will allow for minimizing the number of victims during the operations and fulfill our assignment as best as possible,” he said.

Noteworthy is that at the beginning of the week the Ministry of Finance announced that the government has already spent UAH 8.8 bn of the funds envisaged in the reserve fund of the state budget on conducting the ATO.