Latest Articles about Europe's East
INCONSISTENT LANGUAGE POLICY CREATES PROBLEMS IN UKRAINE
The Party of Regions (PRU), which strengthened its grip on Ukraine's Russophone east and south after the March 26 parliamentary election, continues to probe the government's weaknesses, challenging it on the sensitive issue of language. The PRU-dominated Donetsk regional council has followed the example of... MORE
BELARUS SEEKS TO EMULATE GERMAN-GAZPROM DEALS
President Alexander Lukashenka's government in Belarus is drawing inspiration from German companies' emergent model of relations with Russia's Gazprom, a model blessed by the German government as well and antithetical to market economics. On May 17, top officials of the Belarus government and the state... MORE
REGIONS OF UKRAINE COMES BACK, TAKES UP LANGUAGE ISSUE
Though defeated in the Orange Revolution, regional elites scored a strong performance in Ukraine's March 26 general election, strengthening the position of their main party -- the Party of Regions (PRU) of former presidential contender Viktor Yanukovych. President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc emerged very... MORE
IS AN ECONOMIC CRISIS LOOMING IN BELARUS?
Reports circulated on May 12 that, three days earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin had signed a decree on fundamental changes in Russia's trade-economic and credit-financial policies toward Belarus. In turn, the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom reportedly plans a threefold rise in the price of gas... MORE
MOLDOVA CAN FOLLOW GEORGIA’S EXAMPLE ON RUSSIAN “PEACEKEEPING” TROOPS
Two upcoming international events offer Moldova and Georgia an unprecedented opportunity to demand the termination of Russian "peacekeeping" -- also known as "piecekeeping," that is, seizure of pieces of another country's territory -- and its replacement by genuine international peacekeeping missions. Those two events are... MORE
KYIV ALSO GLANCING AT EXIT FROM CIS
While Tbilisi seems prepared to leave the Commonwealth of Independent States altogether (see EDM, May 11), Kyiv is reducing its own participation in the organization to almost nil, while maximizing its criticism of it. Even the meager membership dues of "nearly $1 million" that Ukraine... MORE
A MURKY MEETING IN MOSCOW ON MOLDOVA
The United States and European Union are maintaining full secrecy over the April 19 Moscow meeting on Moldova. The Russian and Ukrainian Ministries of Foreign Affairs, the EU's Special Representative on Moldova, the U.S. State Department, and the OSCE's American-led Moldova Mission participated in the... MORE
YUSHCHENKO’S TEAM REJECTS TYMOSHENKO’S PRIME MINISTERIAL AMBITION
Yulia Tymoshenko's desire to return to the prime minister's chair has become the main obstacle to restoring the Orange Revolution coalition in order to form a majority in Ukraine's newly elected parliament. President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc has rejected Tymoshenko's demand that the distribution... MORE
POLITICAL CONFRONTATION DETRACTS FROM ACUTE CHERNOBYL PROBLEMS IN BELARUS
As the 20th anniversary of Chernobyl approaches in Belarus, and the opposition forces plan a final protest march on April 26 in the aftermath of the presidential elections, there is no sign that the country has come close to overcoming the profound health, social, and... MORE
TYMOSHENKO SET TO OUST NEW MAYOR OF KYIV
Banker Leonid Chernovetsky has managed to secure the legitimacy of his election as Kyiv mayor. On April 10, the Shevchenkivsky district court in Kyiv ruled that there was no proof of vote buying by Chernovetsky. Outgoing mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko had accused Chernovetsky of buying votes... MORE