Always Look on the Bright Side

The ongoing hostilities in eastern Ukraine, annexation of Crimea, the frozen long-running conflict in neighboring Moldova and precedent of North Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia obviously have something in common… The clear footprint of our big eastern neighbor. Being a sort of a déjà vu for post-soviet — now independent states, the situation surrounding our country (literally and metaphorically) is not only a challenge for the rest of the world, but the first warning signal for security in Europe and other parts of the globe.

The term “law of occupation” was untypical for independent Ukraine and all legal gaps and deadlocks are the logical consequence. The vague legal status of Crimea has resulted in a huge unprecedented challenge for business to leave the peninsula and consider withdrawal/defense of investments. In these circumstances we have observed several legal counsels establish special purpose practice groups, desks and even offices. Besides, sanctions advice appeared as highly relevant practice.

If the Crimean situation is more or less understandable, at least for decision-making, the war-torn eastern region certainly has unclear and hardly predictable prospects.

Donbas is clearly important for the new Prime Minister, Volodymyr Groisman. He created a completely new ministry as part of the Cabinet of Ministers that came to power in April.

In this May issue we address some very sensitive issues regarding the temporarily occupied territories and legal concerns emanating as a result.

On the bright side, the arrival of the international law firm Kinstellar is good evidence of a jurisdiction’s attractiveness. We touched upon this and many topical questions with our cover story figure Andriy Nikiforov, a counsel and head of the Banking, Finance & Capital Markets practice in Kiev.

Craving for a new portion of legal market intelligence, we are happy to provide you with the Central Asian markets snapshot empowered by our contributors from Colibri Law Firm.

Happy reading,

Olga Usenko