Latest Articles about Europe's East
RUSSIA-WEST STANDOFF IN TRANSNISTRIA: OVERALL POST-SOVIET ORDER AT STAKE
Russia has chosen Transnistria as the scene of an unprecedented, head-on confrontation with the European Union. Moscow wants to force a reversal of the border and trade regulations corresponding to international law and norms that were introduced on March 3 to close Europe's largest black... MORE
UKRAINE BREAKING RANKS WITH EUROPE AND MOLDOVA ON TRANSNISTRIA
Ukraine's March 3 decision to cooperate with the European Union and Moldova on Transnistria is proving short-lived. On that day, at the EU's insistence, Ukraine began enforcing a new border and customs regime agreed with Moldova on the Transnistrian sector of the Ukraine-Moldova border, thus... MORE
OFFICIAL MINSK IS PREPARING FOR A COUP
The Belarusian authorities have exacerbated the tension surrounding the 2006 presidential election campaign by declaring that the opposition plans an uprising on Sunday, March 19. KGB chief Stsyapan Sukharenka has warned that any demonstrations will be regarded as acts of terrorism. Participants could theoretically be... MORE
KYIV REOPENING THE DOOR TO ROSUKRENERGO
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and some government authorities seem again to endorse the deeply damaging gas deals signed on January 4 and February 2 with Gazprom's shadowy offshoot RosUkrEnergo. Yushchenko had ignored widespread criticism of those agreements, until unpublicized U.S. and EU intercessions persuaded him... MORE
ROSUKRENERGO SNEAKING BACK INTO UKRAINE
Pending the March 26 parliamentary elections, official Kyiv has shelved the deeply damaging gas deals it signed on January 4 and February 2 with Gazprom and its offshoot RosUkrEnergo. President Viktor Yushchenko and those close associates who confused him into advocating for these deals seemed... MORE
UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES CAMPAIGN FOR RUSSIAN LANGUAGE
The Russian language issue has been employed in the run-up to the March 26 Ukrainian parliamentary election probably more actively than in any past poll. Unlike in previous elections, where marginal groups and low-key candidates played the Russian-language card, now such heavyweights as the frontrunner... MORE
RUSSIA HINTING IT MAY ESCALATE TRANSNISTRIA STANDOFF
A Kremlin-dispatched interagency delegation has completed a three-day visit to Transnistria, hinting that it would recommend strong Russian countermeasures against the international trading regime just introduced by Ukraine and Moldova on their common border with Western encouragement (see EDM, March 8, 9). Officials who coordinate... MORE
MOSCOW AGAINST INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ORDER IN TRANSNISTRIA
Russia is reacting aggressively against the introduction of a lawful, internationally approved trading regime on an international border not its own. This fact bears direct relevance to Moscow's bid for admission to the World Trade Organization. In Washington on March 7, Russian Minister Sergei Lavrov... MORE
BELARUS ELECTION CAMPAIGN TURNS VIOLENT
Belarusian authorities have made some concessions to the opposition during the presidential election campaign, but they have also used violence and provocations to ensure that there are no surprises on March 19. The violence began on February 17, registration day for presidential candidates. A scuffle... MORE
UKRAINE STEPS IN TO CLOSE EUROPE’S BIGGEST BLACK HOLE
Ukraine has finally begun cooperating with Moldova and the European Union against rampant unlawful trade across the Transnistria sector of the Ukraine-Moldova border. That 450-kilometer sector, Europe's largest "black hole," forms a major source of the secessionist authorities' income and power as well as a... MORE