MOSCOW, May 5. /TASS/. A limited partnership agreement and a charter of the investment fund created by the United States and Ukraine are constantly mentioned in the minerals deal submitted to the Verkhovna Rada for ratification, but they were not provided to the deputies, said Irina Gerashchenko, a deputy from the party of ex-president Petr Poroshenko (put by Rosfinmonitoring on the list of people involved in extremist activities or terrorism) European Solidarity.
"Every page of the document mentions a limited partnership agreement, but there is also no document. As well as the charter of the investment fund," Gerashchenko wrote on her Telegram channel.
Ukrainian experts believe that Vladimir Zelensky's office will do everything to put pressure on the deputies and gain the necessary votes for ratification. "It's not hard to imagine [US President Donald] Trump's reaction to the failure of the deal, which he has already praised so many times. So, I don't think the office will play with fire. And there were no signals that they did not like the agreement. Using a carrot and a stick, they will force the session hall to ratify it," local newspaper Strana quoted political analyst Andrey Zolotaryov as saying. The expert believes that the costs of a failed vote will be too serious for Kiev.
The ratification vote is expected on May 8. The agreement has already been submitted to parliament. However, some MPs claim that they were not provided with all the documents on the deal. In the morning, Daniil Getmantsev, head of the Rada committee on finance, tax and customs policy, demanded to publish the full text of the agreement, "including any details and technical conditions."
Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak has previously said the agreement includes two more parts: an agreement between the US International Development Finance Corporation and an agency from Ukraine and a technical part, which will detail the mechanisms of the created fund and distribution. However, it was claimed that they would be signed after the Rada had ratified the first document.
The Politico newspaper reported that the United States and Ukraine have already signed a total of three documents as part of the deal. However, the authorities in Kiev do not confirm this and have released only the general text of the intergovernmental agreement, which makes it unclear how the fund will function.
Agreement with the US
The minerals deal was signed on May 1. After that, the Ukrainian government published the text of the document. Many media outlets and Rada deputies, after analyzing its provisions, expressed dissatisfaction with the terms of the deal, noting that it would lead to the loss of part of Kiev's economic sovereignty, in particular, it would provide the United States with a long-term priority on access to Ukrainian mineral resources, while not including security guarantees, which were discussed so much in Zelensky's office.
After signing the agreement, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliya Sviridenko said that Kiev would contribute 50% of all income from new rents and new licenses for mining in new areas to the newly created bilateral investment fund. She also said that the United States and Ukraine would have an equal say in the management of the fund, while the deal did not provide for Ukraine's direct debt obligations to the United States. During the first 10 years of operation, the fund will not pay dividends, all its income will be reinvested in Ukraine. Investments will be directed to the development and processing of minerals, as well as infrastructure development.