Latest Articles about Europe's East

CRISIS IN UKRAINE

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is ready to call an early parliamentary election as his party, Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense (NUNS), withdrew from a coalition with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s Bloc (BYT). According to Ukrainian laws, NUNS has time until September 13 to change its... MORE

THE STATE OF THE UKRAINIAN MILITARY

During the August 2008 commemoration of the 17th anniversary of Ukrainian independence, armored units of Ukraine’s ground forces paraded down Kyiv’s Khreschatyk Boulevard, while air force planes flew overhead in a show of Ukrainian military might and preparedness. The decision to include a full-scale military... MORE

PARTY OF REGIONS SPLITS OVER GEORGIA AND NATO

The Party of Regions expelled National Security and Defense Council (NRBO) Secretary Raisa Bohatyryova from the party’s senior decision-making body, the Political Council, and from the party itself on September 1. Until being appointed NRBO secretary in December 2007, Bohatyryova had been the leader of... MORE

BELARUS RESPONDS CAUTIOUSLY TO GEORGIAN CRISIS

One of the interesting features of the Russia-Georgia conflict has been the sluggish support Russia has received from its allies. Perhaps most notable has been the reaction in Minsk, where the government of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has acted ambivalently and still appears to be vacillating... MORE

UKRAINE DIVIDED ON RUSSIAN RECOGNITION OF SOUTH OSSETIA

The official Ukrainian response to Russia’s recognition of the independence of Georgia’s two breakaway provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, on August 25, 2008, was not unexpected. The Ukrainian foreign ministry issued a statement on August 26 which noted: “The declaration by the Russian parliament is... MORE

KYIV ON GEORGIA: DIPLOMACY AWKWARD, PARTIES DIVIDED

Kyiv was among the first capitals to define its stance clearly in the early stages of the conflict in South Ossetia. Deputy Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Yeliseyev was the first high-ranking foreign official to arrive in Georgia on a peacemaking mission. While the West was slow... MORE

UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT EXPRESSES STRONG SUPPORT FOR GEORGIA

Ukraine’s president and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which comes under his jurisdiction, have reacted sharply to the Georgian-Russian conflict. President Viktor Yushchenko has close personal relations with President Mikhail Saakashvili with whom he is direct contact on a daily basis (www.president.gov.ua, August 9). The... MORE

UKRAINE AND THE CONFLICT IN SOUTH OSSETIA

In the morning of August 10, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed its Russian counterpart that in order to prevent Ukraine from being drawn into an armed conflict, Ukraine might take measures to prevent the Russian Black Sea Fleet (RBSF) vessels from returning to... MORE