
Latest Articles about Europe's East

UKRAINE SEEKS CONTROL OF RUSSIAN NAVAL FACILITIES ON ITS SOIL
Ukrainian state authorities seized the Yalta lighthouse on January 13 from Russia's Black Sea Fleet, and a Ukrainian student organization is picketing the Russian radar station in Henychesk around the clock since January 15 with tacit approval from Kyiv authorities. The Ukrainian government wants Russia... MORE
“BANDITS TO PRISON:” OLD GUARD USE GAS TO TAKE REVENGE IN UKRAINE ELECTIONS
Following the Parliament of Ukraine's no confidence vote against the government of Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko, (see EDM, January 11), it is still unclear who will be emerge as frontrunners in coming elections—Yushchenko, or the Orange (Yulia Tymoshenko) and blue (Viktor Yanukovych) opposition. The ratings... MORE

RUSSIA-MOLDOVA GAS ARMISTICE: A PRECEDENT FOR OTHERS?
On January 16 in Moscow, Gazprom and Moldova agreed on the terms of a temporary resumption of gas supplies. The agreement, signed by Gazprom president Aleksei Miller and Moldovan First Deputy Prime Minister Zenaida Greceanai, is only valid for the first quarter of 2006. Gazprom... MORE

PUTIN-YUSHCHENKO JOINT DECLARATION ON MOLDOVA CRITICIZED BY ROMANIA
With a delay caused by the extended winter holidays, Romania has reacted critically to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's joint declaration on how to resolve the Transnistria conflict. Romania's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, has commented in an interview... MORE

YUSHCHENKO SWEARS BY RUSSIAN GAS DEAL WHILE YEKHANUROV SPILLS THE BEANS
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is risking his political credibility by blindly defending the Russian-Ukrainian gas deal despite severe criticism of it by Western and Ukrainian experts and a majority of the Ukrainian parliament. Rather than addressing the agreement on its merits, Yushchenko ignores Western critics... MORE

PUTIN OFFERS TO SHORE UP A WEAKENED YUSHCHENKO
Russian President Vladimir Putin is shifting tactics toward Ukraine. Following the "gas attack" designed to produce regime change in Ukraine at the upcoming parliamentary elections, Putin is now apparently moving to reach an understanding with the severely weakened President Viktor Yushchenko. The January 4 signing... MORE
YUSHCHENKO’S GOVERNMENT LOSES VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE
Yesterday, January 10, the Ukrainian parliament voted no confidence in the government of Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov, which has only been in place since late September 2005, when he replaced Yulia Tymoshenko (rada.gov.ua). President Viktor Yushchenko seems oblivious to the building furor over the new... MORE

EUROPEAN UNION RESPONDS AS MOLDOVA GAS PREDICAMENT DEEPENS
Breaking its collective silence on the Russia-triggered gas crisis, the European Union has expressed concern over the situation of Moldova, where Gazprom has halted all deliveries since January 1. The EU's Austrian Presidency, on behalf of the 25 member countries, appealed to Russia and Moldova... MORE

MARKET ECONOMICS TAKES A DRUBBING IN RUSSIA-UKRAINE GAS DEAL
If the Soviet Kremlin invoked "internationalism" to cover the expansionism of the Soviet state, President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin invokes free-market economics to cloak the Russian state's use of the energy trade for rebuilding its power in Eurasia. Some key European officials seem to have accepted... MORE
XENOPHOBES TO CONTEST SEATS IN UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT
Ukraine's parliamentary election campaign is in full swing. In accordance with political reform approved in December 2004 (see EDM, January 3), the election scheduled for March 26 will be contested exclusively by parties and blocs of parties, without any first-past-the-post constituencies for individual candidates. By... MORE