Latest Articles about Europe's East

UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER TO BE PROGRESSIVELY MARGINALIZED

While President Viktor Yushchenko remains outwardly confident that his Our Ukraine party, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc, and parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn's People's Party (NPU) will enter the 2006 parliamentary elections as a coalition, this scenario is now unlikely (Ukrayinska pravda, July 25). As a... MORE

WHAT LIES BEHIND ALLEGED “PLOT” TO KILL TYMOSHENKO?

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has lost a battle in her crusade against the “oligarchs.” The Supreme Economic Court has ruled in favor of former president Leonid Kuchma’s son-in-law, Viktor Pinchuk, in a dispute over the ownership of the Nikopol Ferroalloys Plant (NFZ). Tymoshenko accused... MORE

Ambassador William Hill’s Response to Vladimir Socor

Ms. Ann Robertson, Managing Editor Eurasia Daily Monitor The Jamestown Foundation Dear Ms. Robertson: In two recent articles in the Jamestown “Monitor,” as in numerous other interviews and comments, Vladimir Socor has totally misrepresented the position and activities of the OSCE in general and the... MORE

FEW REAL SIGNS OF CRISIS FOR YUSHCHENKO AND ORANGE REVOLUTION

Western media reports are increasingly claiming that the Orange Revolution is floundering in Ukraine. The Independent (July 25) asserted, "There is a growing consensus in Ukraine that Mr. Yushchenko and Ms. Tymoshenko have frittered away much of their political capital." The International Herald and Tribune... MORE

NEW UKRAINIAN LEADERSHIP EMBRACES SOVIET-STYLE CONSPIRACY THEORIES

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko sent an open letter to Ukrayinska pravda yesterday (July 26) following his public broadside against the publication at a press conference one day earlier. Yushchenko has accused Ukrayinska pravda of deliberately trying to discredit his son, Andriy, and his presidency. Yushchenko... MORE

UKRAINE IN QUEST FOR IRANIAN GAS

Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Secretary, Petro Poroshenko, and Naftohaz Ukrainy chairman Oleksiy Ivchenko paid little-noted visits to Iran on July 14 and July 24-25, respectively. The visits in quick succession evidenced Kyiv's sense of urgency about reducing its dependence on Russian energy supplies,... MORE

MOLDOVAN LAW CHANGES THE LOGIC OF SETTLEMENT ON TRANSNISTRIA

On July 22, at President Vladimir Voronin's initiative, the Moldovan parliament adopted an Organic Law on the principles of resolving the separatist conflict in Transnistria. The law completely reverses the logic of a 13-year old, futile negotiating process, with which Moldova had until recently gone... MORE

UKRAINIAN POLICE TARGET DONETSK TYCOON

The uncrowned king of the Donbas, Renat Akhmetov, may be in serious trouble. Though Akhmetov has not been formally charged with any crime yet, Kyiv investigators do not conceal that they want to see him behind bars for an attempted murder in the 1980s. Akhmetov... MORE

WITH PARLIAMENT IN RECESS, YUSHCHENKO MOVES TO ASSERT AUTHORITY

Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko has used the past week, with parliament closed for summer recess, to assert his authority in key state institutions. Yet these latest moves have failed to dispel the growing opinion that Yushchenko is not making use of the extensive powers he... MORE