By Taras KuzioAt the March 27 Brookings Institution seminar “Ukraine’s Drift Away From Europe and the Western Response” (https://www.brookings.edu/events/2012/0327_ukraine.aspx) former US Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer asked, “Does Yanukovych get it? [Up to last] fall I thought he did.” He added he is “less sure... MORE

By Valery DzutsevOn March 22, the current Prime Minister of Russia and the next President of the country, Vladimir Putin, held a government meeting dedicated to his campaign promises. One of the responding ministers, Minister for Regional Development Viktor Basargin, said that his agency was... MORE

By Taras KuzioPresident Yanukovych announced social populist bribes ahead of the October elections to assist the Party of Regions whose popularity is falling. The populist promises will cost $2-3 billion and Western commentators wondered how Ukraine’s cash starved budget would cope. What follows below is... MORE

By Matthew CzekajThose eagerly calculating the strategic gains in energy security that shale gas promises to bring Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) may need to run the numbers again. According to a US Energy Information Agency (EIA) study from April 2011, Poland’s natural gas reserves... MORE

By Taras KuzioThe arrest and imprisonment of Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko in 2010-2012 baffled Europeans and Americans because it seemed irrational for Yanukovych to undermine the Association Agreement with the EU that opened up the world’s largest market to Ukrainian business. This could be... MORE

By Matthew CzekajPolish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced[link in Polish] on Friday, February 24 that his government was cancelling further construction of the “Gawron”-class naval corvette, a vessel based on the German MEKO A-100 design. In explaining the move, Tusk cited the project’s overwhelming cost... MORE

By Taras KuzioYuriy Lutsenko, former Interior Minister in two governments led by Yulia Tymoshenko in 2005 and 2007-2010, was sentenced on February 27 to four years imprisonment and a three year ban from public office (https://www.kyivpost.com/news/politics/detail/123206/). The EU, European governments, US, Canada and the Parliamentary... MORE

Ihor Rybakov By Taras KuzioThere have long been rumors and some evidence that Presidents Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yanukovych (this practice was not used by President Viktor Yushchenko) have bought opposition deputies to encourage them to defect to pro-presidential parliamentary coalitions (see EDM, February 17).... MORE

By Valery DzutsevOn February 8, arguably the most illustrious leader of the Russian opposition, Alexei Navalny, attacked Ramzan Kadyrov in his blog entry in response to Kadyrov’s earlier derogatory statements (https://navalny.livejournal.com/, February 8). Kadyrov, known for his close relationship to Vladimir Putin, called Navalny a... MORE

By Taras KuzioIn a speech commemorating Ukraine’s January 22 declaration of independence in 1918, President Viktor Yanukovych said “Defense of human rights is an inalienable component of the democratic nature of a European country. We are definitely strengthening monitoring and control over every instance of... MORE