Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with this item that came in overnight:
Ukraine Nationalizes Country's Largest Bank
The Ukrainian government says it will nationalize the country's largest bank in an effort to avoid a financial collapse in the former Soviet republic that is locked in a military and political standoff with neighboring Russia.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's cabinet said in a statement late on December 18 that the government had decided to take 100-percent control of PrivatBank, founded by billionaire and former Dnipropetrovsk governor Ihor Kolomoyskiy.
The move follows months of rumors that the bank was troubled by bad debts.
The statement by the cabinet said the takeover would rescue both PrivatBank and Ukraine's "entire banking system."
The transition to state ownership was set to begin on December 19.
The government said the transaction was agreed upon with Kolomoyskiy and PrivatBank’s other main owner, Henadiy Boholyubov, who control assets in a broad range of sectors, including media, oil, and chemicals.
But Kolomoyskiy took to Facebook to lash out at the government following the statement
"This is not a nationalization. It's a classic illegal takeover," Kolomoyskiy wrote.
He added that clients should not panic, and that "everything would be fine" with their money.
"Only the shareholders have suffered. And the investment climate in the country. Which, by the way, doesn't exist anymore," Kolomoyskiy wrote, promising that there would be more details later on December 19.
Kolomoyskiy, one of Ukraine's richest men, served briefly as head of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and was credited with preventing the spread of separatist sentiment in the region following Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea territory and backing of armed separatists in the east of the country.
But President Petro Poroshenko dismissed him in 2015, accusing him of setting up a private militia and trying to take over a state-affiliated oil company.
With reporting by AFP, the Financial Times, and the Kyiv Post
This ends our live blogging for December 18. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
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