Auditing and accounting giants such as PwC have held seminars advising businesses how to adjust.

Adam Mycyk, partner at the Kiev law offices of Chadbourne & Parke LLP, said that Ukrainian business using “Cyprus as a ‘cash collection’ centre for transactions with their related Ukrainian entities may indeed face an issue, whether because of a shortage of available cash and/or any capital controls that Cyprus puts into place.”

Tomas Fiala, CEO of Kiev-based investment bank Dragon Capital, said “the impact is not too big, but not negligible.”

He added: “A lot of investment, loans and trade flows are structured through Cyprus. It takes time to set up accounts at other banks in other jurisdictions. Several billion US dollars got frozen there but should be available within a couple weeks. Several hundred million will be lost at Laiki and the Bank of Cyprus.”

In talks with an IMF mission that arrived this week for discussions on a potential $15bn bailout, government officials have talked down the effects of the Cyprus situation.

Meanwhile, locals say the Cyprus contagion could increase the cost of borrowing on the Eurobond market for Ukraine’s cash-strapped government. This in turn could force it to accept the tough IMF bailout conditions.

Fiala said: “There is a bit of contagion, which together with large Eurobond supply from Ukraine caused prices to move down over the last two weeks. For instance, the long sovereign went down 4 points. If it should drop further, Ukraine would have a harder time accessing the market (it). And this could push Ukraine towards an IMF deal.”

In spring 2008, the Yuliya Tymoshenko government annulled the contract but it has been revived after a positive decision by the Stockholm Arbitration Court. Donetsk oligarch Rinat Akhmetov is searching for joint investors in the Vanco project.

Royal Dutch Shell won a tender in 2012 in a consortium with other international petroleum companies for the exploration of offshore deep-water reserves in the Black Sea’s Skifska field. They agreed to pay an upfront premium of $300 million upon signing the PSA and pledged to invest $200 million in the exploration phase.

The fourth policy, probably the most important, is supporting an expansion of gas production

Chairman of Royal Dutch Shell Ukraine Graham Tiley told the Ukrainian edition of Forbes magazine last year that it is entirely feasible for a three-fold increase in gas production from the current 20 billion cubic meters.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Ukraine was the biggest gas producer in the Soviet Union and much of this infra-structure of pipelines, underground storage and expertise remains. From the late 1970s the center of Soviet energy moved to Western Siberia and Central Asia.

One of the companies supporting Ukraine’s drive for energy independence is Cub Energy, a relatively small player in Ukraine’s energy sector registered in Toronto, a city it chose believing it offered better opportunities than London or Oslo.

Holy Trinity Day
…It comes fifty days after Easter and celebrates the Descent of the Holy Spirit who poured himself out on the apostles. On this day people decorate their houses and apartments with greenery, which is a reminder of the new life that comes through baptism. The wildflowers blessed on the festive church service are dried up and kept behind the icons, as they are believed to possess special spiritual powers. For example, if the mistress of the house puts dried flowers in the garret, they will protect the house from fire. On Holy Trinity Day young girls make garlands and throw them in the river or lakes to foresee the future. If the garland sinks, the girl who made it will die in the following year, if not, she will get married. This tradition originates from the pagan holiday celebrating the beginning of summer, which was forbidden after the Christening of Kievan Rus.