On July 2, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenka was interviewed by Oleg Poptsov of the Russian TV Center, a company that covers nine Russian regions, in a program that lasted for three hours. The interview covered a variety of issues, but the key focus was on... MORE

Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko has publicly announced that he is seeking to strip 16 parliamentary deputies of their immunity from prosecution (Interfax-Ukraine, June 28). All 16 figure in criminal cases that are not connected to the 2004 presidential election. However, Lutsenko added that parties... MORE

As President Viktor Yushchenko promised, Ukraine held a mini-version of the annual Davos World Economic Forum. As The Economist (June 16) wrote, "The government hoped to give investors more clarity" at the roundtable in Kyiv, "but the impression of incompetence will linger." After three days... MORE

The investigation into the murder of crusading journalist Heorhiy Gongadze apparently suffered a severe setback last week. Secret information about the whereabouts of General Oleksiy Pukach, whom the Prosecutor-General's Office holds responsible for killing Gongadze in 2000, was leaked to the press. It has transpired... MORE

On June 22-23 the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General's Office finally introduced the first criminal charges of separatism against two eastern Ukrainian leaders: Viktor Tykhonov, head of the Luhansk oblast council, and Yevhen Kushnariov, the former governor of Kharkiv oblast. Both men opposed Viktor Yushchenko in the 2004... MORE

On June 18, President Viktor Yushchenko's new "party of power," People's Union-Our Ukraine (NS-NU), finally held its inaugural congress. Speculation had been rife that Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko would become head of the Kyiv branch of NS-NU, but that did not happen. The Kyiv branch... MORE

Ukraine's ability to pay for natural gas is already severely stressed on both the Russian and the Turkmen fronts. Ukraine's own, growing budget deficit has contributed to that stress. On June 20, Turkmenistan publicized the scolding administered that same day by President Saparmurat Niyazov to... MORE

Ukrainian officials continue what look like almost frantic attempts to diversify oil and gas supply sources in order to reduce dependence on Russian supplies (see EDM, May 18, 19, 23, June 11). Driven mainly by reasons of state, these efforts seem to overlook market economic... MORE

With President Viktor Yushchenko's name pro forma on its cover, the flawed Ukrainian conflict-settlement plan for Moldova/Transnistria seems to have met an early demise in Moldova's parliament. In a respectful tenor toward the Ukrainian president, with whom official Chisinau seeks the best possible relations, the... MORE

"I will go! I am fed up!" Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Sviatyslav Piskun declared during a call-in at the Fakty newspaper on Friday, June 17. "I think one should discuss things like that with the president before making statements," President Viktor Yushchenko said, reacting to Piskun's words... MORE