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UKRAINE CRISIS

BANK

French bank to cut jobs in Ukraine over crisis

French bank BNP Paribas said Monday it plans to cut 1,600 jobs at its Ukrainian unit UkrSibBank by 2015 due to political uncertainty in the country.

French bank to cut jobs in Ukraine over crisis
BNP bank to cut 1,600 jobs in Ukraine over the political crisis. Photo: Dierk Schaefer/Flickr

A presentation for investors published on its website cited a "challenging environment bolstered by political uncertainties".

It added it had closed 84 branches last year as it rationalised its business in the country.

UkrSibBank currently has around 500 branches and employs some 7,000 people.

Earlier Monday, BNP Paribas chief executive Jean-Laurent Bonnafe said that UkrSibBank would continue to operate despite the tensions in the country.

Three months of demonstrations against a decision by President Viktor Yanukovych to abandon a historic trade and political pact with the European Union in favour of closer ties with Russia ended with his fleeing the country.

While the interim government has signed the pact with the EU, Russia has annexed the strategic Black Sea peninsula of Crimea and there are fears that predominately Russian-speaking regions in eastern Ukraine might also try to secede.

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UKRAINE

Germany to support defence of Polish airspace

Germany on Monday said it had reached an agreement to help Poland protect its skies following a deadly rocket strike close to the border with Ukraine.

Germany to support defence of Polish airspace

Berlin would “send Patriot anti-aircraft systems to Poland and support the securing of Polish airspace with Eurofighter (jets)”, Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said in a statement.

READ ALSO: Germany to buy F-35 fighter jets in military shopping spree

Two people were killed last week when a missile landed in the Polish village of Przewodow, six kilometres (four miles) from the Ukrainian border.

Warsaw and NATO have said the explosion was likely caused by a Ukrainian air-defence missile launched to intercept a Russian barrage, but that Moscow was ultimately to blame because it started the conflict.

Before the deal was agreed, Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said he “welcomed the German proposal with satisfaction”.

Blaszczak said on Twitter he would propose for the systems to be “stationed close to the border with Ukraine”.

Germany has already sent Patriot anti-aircraft units to Slovakia, where Berlin hopes to keep them deployed for longer than currently planned.

The air-defence systems should remain in Slovakia “until the end of 2023 and potentially even beyond”, Lambrecht told the Rheinische Post daily.

“It is our utmost responsibility that NATO does not become a participant in this conflict,” while strengthening its air defences, she said.

READ ALSO: Germany and Spain to train Ukraine troops under EU programme

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