
Latest Articles about Europe's East

Reinterpretations of Soviet History in Georgia and the Post-Soviet Space: Never-Ending Battle
On November 12, Georgia’s Deputy Minister of Culture Yuri Metchitov, serving in the “Georgian Dream”–led new government, declared that Georgia should change the name of the Museum of the Soviet Occupation, opened in Tbilisi in 2006. As Metchitov stated, the museum draws the irritation of... MORE

Russia’s Aggressive Policies in Transnistria Reveal Severe Limitations of EU’s Approach to Conflict Resolution
Adding to a recent series of worrying Russian actions that have exposed serious faults in the Transnistrian conflict resolution process (see EDM, October 25), Moscow has now declared its intention to build a “Eurasian economic region” in Transnistria (Ng.ru, November 2). This project is meant... MORE

Berkut Riot Police Used to Falsify Ukrainian Parliamentary Elections
The Ministry of Interior’s Berkut riot police has never intervened in Ukrainian elections to the same degree as during the October 28 parliamentary elections. Berkut assisted regional governors in securing victories for pro-regime candidates through electoral fraud by storming election precincts, taking away counted votes... MORE

Belarus Targets Intellectual Community
On November 5, the Russian company ROSSPEN published the memoirs of former chairman of the Parliament Stanislau Shushkevich, the first leader of Belarus after independence. The book came out in a Russian-language edition because none of Belarus’s publishers dared to issue the original in Belarusian.... MORE

Violations, Strong Showing of Radicals Spoil Ukrainian Election
The parliamentary election on October 28 disillusioned those who hoped for progress in Ukraine after the botched election to the regional and municipal councils in 2010. Like two years ago, radicals performed better than expected while the lack of a level playing field and the... MORE

Belarus and Russia: Affinity and Dependency
No two countries in the world today are as close as Russia and Belarus. This closeness has multiple aspects, one of which is structural affinity between the Russian and Belarusian societies. Both are afflicted with an internal schism, and the two resulting segments of each... MORE

UDAR – Our Ukraine Pragmatists in a Radical Opposition Era
Six exit polls at the closing of the October 28 parliamentary election gave the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms (UDAR), led by boxing champion Vitaliy Klychko, between 13–15 percent of the vote. Together with 23–25 percent for jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchina (Fatherland)... MORE

Russian Military Developments in Transnistria Worry Moldovan Officials
The temporary thaw in the usually icy relations between Moldova and its breakaway region of Transnistria has apparently come to an end. A warning signal was sent by the Russian foreign ministry special envoy Sergei Gubarev on October 13 during his visit to Tiraspol, Transnistria’s... MORE

Klichko Refuses to Sign Coalition Accord with Tymoshenko’s Party
Ukraine’s two most popular opposition forces, Punch (UDAR) and Fatherland, have had a serious quarrel ahead of the October 28 parliamentary election. First, the two parties failed to agree which of their candidates were supposed to bow out of the races in single-seat constituencies so... MORE

The Astravec Project: A Risky Endeavor for Belarus
Work has begun on the construction of a Belarusian nuclear power plant at Astravec in Hrodna Region, about 16 kilometers from the border with Lithuania. While Belarus has actively promoted the project, together with its Russian designer and contractor, both the general public and neighboring... MORE