The United States has taken a back seat to the European Union regarding Moldova since the final years of the Bush administration. This stance became inevitable due to US over commitments in debilitating conflicts on one hand, and the EU's own initiatives in its immediate... MORE

US Vice-President, Joseph Biden, paid a seven-hour flag-showing visit to Chisinau on March 11, on his return trip from Moscow to Washington. With this, Biden became the highest-ranking US official ever to visit Moldova during 20 years of the country's independence. Previous high-level visitors were... MORE

It is clear that problems with democracy and slow reforms in Ukraine under President Viktor Yanukovych have not prevented the European Union from developing closer ties with Kyiv. German Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, and EU chief free trade negotiator, Philippe Cuisson, confirmed recently that the... MORE

At a press conference on February 28, former Belarusian presidential candidate Ales Mikhalevich outlined details of tortures at the KGB Detention Center in Minsk. Mikhalevich had been released a few days earlier on condition that he turned informant for the secret police. Instead he used... MORE

The mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed its work in Kyiv on February 14, but more difficult talks are ahead. Ukraine still has to prove that it qualifies for the next $1.6 billion IMF loan tranche. The government of President Viktor Yanukovych like... MORE

Moscow and Tiraspol seem intent on stonewalling the negotiations on the Transnistria conflict with Moldova indefinitely, and are marshalling arguments to justify the obstruction. For the most part, Tiraspol is fronting for Moscow in airing these arguments publicly. They are reaching ten years and more... MORE

The establishment of the European Union’s External Action Service, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) chairmanship by Lithuania, and the electoral success of Moldova’s pro-European governing coalition, are cumulatively energizing international efforts to unblock the negotiations on the Transnistria conflict. These converging... MORE

Ukraine is once again in difficult talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to secure a much needed third tranche of the IMF’s $15 billion stand-by loan which was approved last July. This is another test for the ability of Prime Minister, Mykola Azarov, to... MORE

The Russian government’s offer of cheap gas to Moldova, in return for military basing rights (“Cheap Gas for Basing Rights: Russia Offers Ukrainian-Type Deal to Moldova,” EDM, February 4) aims to pressure Moldova’s governing Alliance for European Integration (AEI). That government was confirmed in office... MORE

Russia’s ambassador to Moldova, Valery Kuzmin, insinuated via Chisinau media on February 1 that Moscow can grant Moldova a price discount on Russian gas, as it granted one to Ukraine, in return for military basing rights.Kuzmin said: “Moldovan authorities must execute the conditions of the... MORE