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Latest Articles about Europe's East
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Belarus: Marking the Anniversary of Tragic Events
On December 23, for four hours President Alyaksandr Lukashenka responded to questions from domestic and foreign journalists. He expressed certainty that the financial crisis, caused by price hikes on oil and gas, rash imports of used cars, and by the mistakes in fiscal policy, will... MORE
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Will 2012 Bring Popular Revolt to Ukraine?
Surveys and polls show there is widespread popular anger, frustration and contempt for the Viktor Yanukovych administration that has managed to anger many different groups in every Ukrainian region. Imprisoned opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko (16.3 percent) is more popular than Yanukovych (13.3 percent) whose popularity... MORE
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Ukrainian Government Mishandles Gas Negotiations with Moscow
President Viktor Yanukovych and his government are setting the stage, politically and legislatively, for transferring Ukrainian pipelines to Russian control, in a package deal with Gazprom. The president and government wavered and agonized at times, but are now actively preparing Ukrainian public opinion for an... MORE
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Ukraine Braces for Gas Transportation Consortium with Russia
Kyiv’s hopes for cheaper Russian gas from January 1, have failed to materialize. However, gas talks are continuing and there are signs that Moscow will agree to cut the price of gas in exchange for a share in a consortium to be set up to... MORE
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Belarus in 2011: The Return of Repressions
The year 2011 proved to be a difficult one for Belarus, in particular its opposition and human rights activists. Despite the release of some designated political prisoners over the summer, the crackdown on activists that began shortly before the December 19, 2010 presidential elections has... MORE
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Turkey Gains Little, Ukraine Has Much to Lose in Ankara Backing Russian South Stream
On December 30, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller announced that Turkey has authorized the construction of Gazprom’s South Stream pipeline through Turkey’s Black Sea exclusive economic zone, bypassing Ukraine en route to central Europe (Russian TV, Interfax, December 30; Russian... MORE
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Ukraine’s International Isolation Grows
The EU’s refusal to initial the Association Agreement (which includes a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement) at the December 19, 2011, EU-Ukraine summit in Kyiv was a geopolitical setback. Initialing is a technical stage meaning that the negotiations are completed. The second stage is... MORE
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Tymoshenko’s Imprisonment Slows Integration with the European Union
The association agreement with the EU comprising a free trade agreement was not signed or initialed at the Ukraine-EU summit in Kyiv on December 19. EU Council President Herman van Rompuy only formally announced that talks on the agreement were completed. He and European Commission... MORE
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Belarus: A New Army and Deeper Integration With Russia
November 2011 witnessed interesting developments in Belarus: the announcement of the formation of a territorial army by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and a new advisory body called the Council for the Development of an Informational Society (CDIS), run by an existing Operative-Analytical Center and headed by... MORE
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New Election Law to Prompt Consolidation of Ukrainian Opposition
On December 8, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych signed the law on parliamentary elections, which parliament passed on November 17. The new law should allow the ruling Party of Regions to win the election scheduled for October 2012, despite its declining popularity. The elections law raises... MORE