Pyotr Poroshenko’s four problems

... economic crisis. To continue the anti-terrorist operation would be costly, and the operation itself is destroying the infrastructure of the industrialised South East, leading to closures of businesses and coal mines. Moreover, the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) may lead to de facto independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, depriving Ukraine of further IMF loan tranches (Kiev’s continued control over Donbas is one of the conditions of the loan). Provocation, not partnership One of Pyotr Poroshenko’s key foreign policy tasks should be to stabilize relations with Russia. This would facilitate the solution of some other problems – above all that of separatism in the east of the country – and bring the economy out ...