What Kyiv's politics looked like in the days before 20 March 2018
A retrospective on the military, banking and social-policy decisions taken in Ukraine in mid-March 2018, alongside new US sanctions on Russian nationals.
What had Ukraine's leadership decided in the days leading up to 20 March 2018? Reports from 15 and 16 March show changes in the armed forces, the central bank and the treatment of service personnel.
On 16 March 2018, President Petro Poroshenko appointed Serhiy Nayev commander of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The new body was created to replace the Anti-Terrorist Operation Staff.
A day earlier, on 15 March, the Verkhovna Rada dismissed Valeriya Hontareva as head of the National Bank of Ukraine and appointed Yakiv Smolii in her place.
On the same date, the President signed amendments to the law on the social and legal protection of servicemen and their families. The changes were presented as removing social injustice in the right of military personnel to receive monetary compensation for renting housing.
Sanctions from Washington
Abroad, on 15 March 2018 the Trump administration imposed financial sanctions on 19 Russian nationals under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. Twelve of them were among those indicted in the Special Counsel investigation. The act, a US federal law covering Iran, North Korea and Russia, had been signed on 2 August 2017.
