Latest Articles about Europe's East
UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT IN LIMBO
The majority of Ukraine’s parliament has defied the accords between President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych to disband parliament and hold an early parliamentary election. Yushchenko has not recognized parliament’s powers since June 5, when he issued a decree scheduling the election for... MORE
THE QUEST FOR “STABILITY” IN BELARUS
On June 19, Belarusian Prime Minister Syarhey Sidorski summarized the economic results for the first five months of 2007, maintaining that the country had attained “macroeconomic stability.” GDP rose by 9% compared with the same period last year, with notable increases in output in both... MORE
YULIA TYMOSHENKO COMES OUT ON TOP IN UKRAINE’S CRISIS
Ukraine's parliament closed on Friday, June 15, after a tense two-month crisis. This was a success for Yulia Tymoshenko and her eponymous bloc (BYuT), who were the only political forces consistently calling for early elections since the collapse of the Orange coalition last year. On... MORE
SEVERIN ATTACKS BELARUS ON HUMAN RIGHTS
A speech by Adrian Severin, special rapporteur, to the 5th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) of the UN General Assembly in Geneva on the worsening human rights situation in Belarus in 2006 has caused fury in Minsk. Belarus's permanent representative at the UN,... MORE
SOLUTION IN MOLDOVA — “KEY TO RUSSIA-WEST DISPUTE” AT CFE TREATY CONFERENCE
As anticipated (see EDM, May 25), the unlawful presence of Russian troops in Moldova became the decisive issue at the emergency conference of state parties to the Treaty on Conventional forces in Europe (CFE), underway in Vienna June 11-15. That issue is not only the... MORE
WILL UKRAINE, RUSSIA SOLVE PROBLEM OF PERSONAE NON GRATAE?
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko found time in their schedules to meet on the fringes of the St. Petersburg economic forum on June 10. They discussed measures to settle Moldova’s Transnistria issue, which they agreed not to make public, and said... MORE
A CHANCE TO CIVILIANIZE RUSSIA’S “PEACEKEEPING” OPERATION IN MOLDOVA
An “Extraordinary Conference of the States Parties to the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe” (CFE) opens today in Vienna, to run through June 15. Russia exercised its right -- as one of the 30 state-parties to that treaty -- to convene this conference on... MORE
IS UKRAINIAN INTERIOR MINISTER SICK OR HIDING?
Interior Minister Vasyl Tsushko has left Ukraine for medical treatment in Germany. President Viktor Yushchenko had accused him of breaking the law when Tsushko ordered riot police to storm the Prosecutor-General’s Office (PGO) on May 24, at the height of a political crisis caused by... MORE
CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS DOMINATE UKRAINE’S POLITICAL CRISIS
Ukraine’s spring 2007 political crisis was the first occasion in Ukraine’s history that brought the country to the brink of bloodshed on three separate fronts. National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Deputy Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov said that last weekend (May 24-27) could have descended into... MORE
MOLDOVA’S PRESIDENT CORNERED BY PUTIN
Concern is mounting in Chisinau, Brussels, and Washington -- to name only the main decision-making centers -- that Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin is willing to be cajoled into a bad deal with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, at their upcoming meeting in St. Petersburg on... MORE