Ukraine’s most popular opposition politician, former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, is pushing for a referendum to change the constitution. She wants the vote to be held simultaneously with the early parliamentary election on September 30. President Viktor Yushchenko also wants a referendum, but he believes... MORE

Ukraine’s September 30 parliamentary elections will decide the country’s next government and most likely determine the outcome of the presidential elections two years later. As seasoned Zerkalo nedeli commentator Serhiy Rakhmanin pointed out, the “pre-term parliamentary campaign gives [President Viktor] Yushchenko a great opportunity to... MORE

In the aftermath of the latest round of the ongoing gas dispute with Russia, the Belarusian Ministries of Labor and Social Protection and Statistics have provided figures on the economic and demographic situation in the country that shed a favorable light on living standards and... MORE

The campaign for the September 30 parliamentary elections officially kicked off in Ukraine on August 2. This campaign will see the same contenders as in the March 2006 election: President Viktor Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense bloc (NUNS), except last year it was just Our Ukraine,... MORE

On August 2, Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka declared that his country would dip into its reserves to pay its existing debt to Gazprom of $456 million (Itar-Tass, August 2). His decision brought a temporary halt to the current crisis raised by Belarus's failure to meet... MORE

“Politics in Moldova is in fact Geopolitics” (Flux, July 20). This recent observation by a pro-Western party leader in Chisinau has quickly become common wisdom. It defines the real stakes in the political changes resulting from President Vladimir Voronin’s non-transparent negotiations with the Kremlin and... MORE

A fragile political consensus -- also known as parliamentary partnership -- on the terms set in 2005 persists in Moldova’s parliament at this time. Its preservation is creditable to the Parliament’s Chairman Marian Lupu, Vice-Chairman and Christian-Democrat leader Iurie Rosca, some centrists, and many Communist... MORE

Post-Soviet railway problems made headlines when Ukraine announced a hazardous materials emergency after a train carrying toxic chemicals crashed on July 16 in the country's Western Lviv region (see EDM, July 23). Fifteen tankers carrying liquid yellow phosphorous derailed, and six caught fire. The train... MORE

Several prosecutors and courts recently decided high-profile cases in favor of individuals who were prosecuted when President Viktor Yushchenko came to power in 2005. At the same time, the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office and the Prosecutor-General’s Office, which is controlled by individuals hailing from Donetsk,... MORE