[Summary translation of the original Russian language response provided by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre] We would like to provide brief comments to your letter on behalf of two primary trade unions that work at JSC ‘Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company’ and are part of the Marine Transport Workers Trade Union of Ukraine. First of all, we would like to emphasize that all 2175 employees of JSC ‘Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company’ are members of the Marine Transport Workers Trade Union of Ukraine and have no relations with the trade union ‘Zakhyst Pratsi’. We confirm that over the last few years the enterprise is unprofitable and has accumulated significant debts. However, over the last year and a half, wages arrears have been reduced significantly. Despite this fact, floating assets are not sufficient, which leads to very intense financial situation. The financial crisis in Europe is contributing to this. We have not frozen the payment of wages, even though the payment increases are in small increments starting from October 2012. During April of this year we paid 6.5 million hryvnas, including social payments. However, political forces are trying to use the difficult situation at JSC ‘Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company’. The so called “independent” trade union ‘Zakhyst Pratsi’ is trying to destabilise the situation at certain enterprises in the region at the behest of political forces. Trade union ‘Zakhyst Pratsi’ has misinformed the public by alleging that employees of the company work in horrible and inhuman conditions.