While most of the worldwide media outlets focused on Euromaidan protests in Kyiv since Ukraine’s withdrawal from signing the Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013, the signing of a five-year economic agreement between Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and several Chinese companies went... MORE

Moscow-based, independent television cable news channel Dozhd (meaning “Rain”) has been accused of “extremism,” and a number of cable TV providers threatened to remove it from the TV-channel packages that they offer their subscribers.  On January 26, 2014, in “Dilettanty”—a panel discussion program on the... MORE

On January 28, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov submitted his resignation to President Viktor Yanukovych, while an extraordinary session of the parliament (Vekhovna Rada) repealed the “draconian laws of January 16,” which had triggered the outburst of radicalism, violent battles, and tense standoffs between protesters and... MORE

The escalating crisis in Ukraine is reverberating in Moscow, where the ruling elite is convinced the violent clashes in Kyiv between special police forces and protesters have been organized and financed by the West. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the European Union of supporting... MORE

The decision of Viktor Yanukovych’s government in Ukraine to suspend its Association Agreement with the European Union last November was perceived by many as a geopolitical victory for Russia and a defeat for the EU (see EDM, December 3, 4, 2013; January 8, 2014). However,... MORE

A radical outburst of demonstrations on Hrushevskoho Street and European Square in Kyiv on January 22 resulted in the reported deaths of two protesters from rifle bullet wounds (https://www.unian.ua/politics/875144-pershi-jertvi-protistoyannya-troe-zagiblih-na-grushevskogo.html). The violence began on January 19 when a group of protesters attempted an assault on a... MORE

Following the winter holiday break, the Ukrainian parliament—the Verkhovna Rada—reconvened and, on January 16, passed perhaps the most controversial set of bills in the country’s history. These bills were subsequently signed into law by President Viktor Yanukovych on January 17. The controversial legislation allows the... MORE

Although demonstrators still occupy the Maidan in central Kyiv and none of Ukraine’s fundamental issues that precipitated the crisis in late 2013 have been resolved, it is clear that the Russian “transfusion” of support for Ukrainian bonds and lower natural gas prices has given President... MORE

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych made a sensational U-turn last year, choosing Russian economic assistance over an association and free-trade deal with the European Union. The decision, which triggered the most massive anti-government protests since 2004, was dictated by a dismal state of the Ukrainian economy... MORE

Since November 21, the mass protests in Ukraine’s capital organized by opposition parties and citizens supportive of the European Union have been continuing, with the number of protesters increasing each day. In fact, on December 8, over a million Ukrainians gathered in Independence Square (“Maidan... MORE