Latest Articles about Ukraine
Governor Saakashvili Unveils Reform Agenda in Ukraine’s Odesa Province
Following his appointment as governor of Odesa province by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (see EDM, June 2, 4, 5), Georgia’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili has outlined his policy priorities in the post newly entrusted to him. Saakashvili holds a strong political mandate from the Ukrainian... MORE
Scandal in the Ukrainian Security Service: Last Breath of the Old Political System?
On June 18, 248 Ukrainian lawmakers—out of the 422 present in the Verkhovna Rada (parliament)—approved President Petro Poroshenko’s request to fire Valentyn Nalyvaychenko as head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) amid rising public criticism and top officials’ growing recriminations over the government’s inability... MORE
Saakashvili Grapples With Daunting Odds in Ukraine’s Odesa
Three weeks ago, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appointed Georgia’s former president, Mikheil Saakashvili, as governor of Ukraine’s Odesa province, with a dual mission: to jump-start reforms based on his experience in reforming Georgia, and to consolidate Ukrainian control in a territory potentially targeted by Russia.... MORE
Putin’s Economic Forum: Delays, Obfuscations and Irrelevance
The annual St. Petersburg economic forum used to be a major gathering of investors and stakeholders, who would anticipate President Vladimir Putin’s keynote speech every year for hints about where to find the richest dividends in the Russian economy. This year, however, the traditional pomp... MORE
Ukrainian Website Publishes Purported Detailed Russian Invasion Plan of Eastern Ukraine
On June 16, the Ukrainian website Mirotvorets published what are allegedly Russian military draft plans of a massive military invasion of eastern Ukraine. The invasion plan or “special operation of army group ‘North’ ” was apparently put together by the staff of the Western Military... MORE
When Will Mikheil Saakashvili Return to Georgia?
The appointment of former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili as the head of government administration (governor) of Odesa province in Ukraine produced a wave of speculation about his future plans in Georgia. Immediately after taking office in Odesa, Saakashvili gave several interviews for Georgian media outlets,... MORE
Ukrainian President Replaces Governor of War-Torn Donetsk Province
On June 11, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko fired General Oleksandr Kikhtenko as governor of Donetsk province, roughly half of which is controlled by Moscow-backed militants. Like his predecessor, local steel tycoon Serhy Taruta, who was ditched last fall and elected to parliament from Mariupol (Mariupil),... MORE
Celebrating Russia Day, the Country Finds Itself With No Future
The meaning of Russia Day, the holiday celebrated last Friday, June 12, remains obscure and even foreign for the majority of Russians. Overall, the population has mixed feelings about the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was precipitated by the declaration of state sovereignty of... MORE
Bringing Belarus Back in From the Cold (Part Three)
To read Part One, please click here.To read Part Two, please click here. President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s policy is one of benevolent neutrality sympathetic toward Ukraine in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Belarus’s diplomacy and its trade policies tilt in Ukraine’s favor to the extent possible without... MORE
Russia Shutters Northern Distribution Network
On May 15, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev issued a resolution closing the Northern Distribution Network (NDN), a network of rail and road links across Russia and the post-Soviet space that had provided logistical transit to Afghanistan for International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) military equipment... MORE