Latest Articles about Europe's East
INTERNAL DIVISIONS MAY DEFEAT YUSHCHENKO’S WTO ASPIRATIONS
The Ukrainian parliament went into summer vacation this week after adopting only six of the 14 legislative acts needed for possible WTO membership. Two related laws were adopted earlier. The government had wanted parliament to consider all 14 laws as a package, but parliament refused.... MORE
OSCE PARLIAMENTARY RESOLUTION SETS STAGE FOR RECOGNITION OF TRANSNISTRIA
On July 8, Moldova's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a protest against the content of the Moldova resolution, adopted at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's (OSCE PA) annual session on July 5 in Washington, and against the procedural maneuvers that were used to push the resolution... MORE
YUSHCHENKO ELECTION COALITION DIVIDED OVER ROLE FOR LYTVYN
As the Ukrainian parliament adjourns today for its summer recess, Western observers are increasingly noting the divisions inside President Viktor Yushchenko's team. However, such commentaries typically focus on the wrong divisions. In a report entitled, "Political Rivalries Threaten Ukraine's Reforms," the Financial Times (July 4)... MORE
TYMOSHENKO EMBROILED IN DISPUTE BETWEEN TYCOONS
A shadow has been cast on the integrity of Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, as two "oligarchs" vie for control over a lucrative steel business. For the past several weeks the Ukrainian media has been rife with a rumor saying that the Dnipropetrovsk-based Privat group... MORE
UKRAINE’S REPUTATION AT STAKE IN GAS TRADE WITH RUSSIA
Interviewed on a Ukrainian television channel on July 1, Gazprom Vice-President Alexander Medvedev stated that the Russian side wants to go ahead with the Russian-Ukrainian-German understandings of 2003-2004 regarding ownership and management of Ukraine's gas transit system (TV Channel 5, July 1). Known informally as... MORE
RUSSIA-BELARUS: THE COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP
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
CRIMINAL CHARGES REACH SENIOR LEADERS OF UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION
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
UKRAINIAN ECONOMIC ROUNDTABLE FAILS TO CONVINCE INVESTORS
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
GONGADZE’S KILLER REPORTEDLY FOUND IN ISRAEL
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
UKRAINIAN AUTHORITIES FILE CRIMINAL CHARGES OF SEPARATISM
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