US Urges Kiev to Continue Judicial Reforms to Meet IMF Conditions

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States calls on Kiev to continue legislative reforms as part of the process to meet the IMF conditions for next tranche, the White House announced in a release on Friday after a phone call between US Vice President Joe Biden and Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko.

“The leaders discussed the importance of continuing to institute reforms in the Office of the Prosecutor General, and the significance of Ukraine's progress toward implementing judicial reforms and meeting IMF conditions,” the release said.

Biden also congratulated Poroshenko on Ukrainian national Nadezhda Savchenko's release from Russian custody. Besides, the two leaders discussed the need to advance implementation of the Minsk accords.

Washington has repeatedly stressed that the enactment of reforms in Ukraine is critical to unlocking international economic assistance.

The IMF has pledged a $17.5 billion bailout package for Ukraine in exchange for economic and anticorruption reforms that would guarantee financial stability, transparency, efficient state-owned enterprise sector.

The United States has provided Ukraine with two loan guarantees worth $2 billion and hundreds of millions in other assistance.