What happened in Kyiv and Washington on 15 March 2018?

What did one day in March 2018 change for Ukraine's finances, its servicemen and its neighbour's relations with Washington? On 15 March 2018, events in Kyiv and the United States pointed in several directions at once.

A new central bank chief

The Verkhovna Rada dismissed Valeriia Hontareva as head of the National Bank of Ukraine on 15 March 2018 and appointed Yakiv Smolii in her place.

Support for servicemen

On the same day, President Petro Poroshenko signed amendments to the law on the social and legal protection of military personnel and their families. The changes were presented as removing a social injustice in how servicemen obtain the right to cash compensation for renting housing.

Two days earlier, on 13 March 2018, parliament had passed law No. 7161. It amends the law on the rehabilitation of disabled people in Ukraine and concerns the establishment of a disability group for participants in the anti-terrorist operation, as the campaign in eastern Ukraine was then officially known.

Washington adds sanctions

Beyond Ukraine, the administration of US President Donald Trump imposed financial sanctions on 19 Russian nationals on 15 March 2018. Twelve of them were among those indicted in the Special Counsel investigation. The measures were taken under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.

That law, as background, had been passed by the US Senate on 27 July 2017 by 98 votes to 2, after the House of Representatives approved it 419 to 3. President Trump signed it on 2 August 2017, although he believed the legislation was seriously flawed.

The day in sum

The two Ukrainian measures on social protection for military personnel and war participants came alongside a leadership change at the central bank, while Washington's sanctions decision on the same date concerned Russian nationals.