Latest Articles about Ukraine
YULIA TYMOSHENKO COMES OUT ON TOP IN UKRAINE’S CRISIS
Ukraine's parliament closed on Friday, June 15, after a tense two-month crisis. This was a success for Yulia Tymoshenko and her eponymous bloc (BYuT), who were the only political forces consistently calling for early elections since the collapse of the Orange coalition last year. On... MORE
WILL UKRAINE, RUSSIA SOLVE PROBLEM OF PERSONAE NON GRATAE?
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko found time in their schedules to meet on the fringes of the St. Petersburg economic forum on June 10. They discussed measures to settle Moldova’s Transnistria issue, which they agreed not to make public, and said... MORE
IS UKRAINIAN INTERIOR MINISTER SICK OR HIDING?
Interior Minister Vasyl Tsushko has left Ukraine for medical treatment in Germany. President Viktor Yushchenko had accused him of breaking the law when Tsushko ordered riot police to storm the Prosecutor-General’s Office (PGO) on May 24, at the height of a political crisis caused by... MORE
CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS DOMINATE UKRAINE’S POLITICAL CRISIS
Ukraine’s spring 2007 political crisis was the first occasion in Ukraine’s history that brought the country to the brink of bloodshed on three separate fronts. National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Deputy Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov said that last weekend (May 24-27) could have descended into... MORE
CRISIS OVER, BUT RULE OF LAW UNDERMINED IN UKRAINE
The Ukrainian political crisis triggered by President Viktor Yushchenko’s April 2 decision to disband a hostile parliament appears to be over. On May 27, Yushchenko and his opponents, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and parliamentary speaker Oleksandr Moroz, scheduled an early parliamentary election for September 30... MORE
UKRAINE’S CONSTITUTIONAL COURT UNDER PRESSURE
On May 21, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (CC) closed proceedings related to President Viktor Yushchenko’s April 2 decree to disband parliament. This was a pure formality, as Yushchenko had on April 26 invalidated his own decree by issuing another decree disbanding parliament and rescheduling... MORE
“POLITICAL TOURISM” AND MANAGED CIVIL SOCIETY IN UKRAINE
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s experts on Ukraine have pointed out that the ongoing “blue Maidan” demonstrations in downtown Kyiv’s Independence Square are incompatible with democracy. Although the Maidan-2007 demonstrations are taking place in the same location as those staged by the... MORE
YUSHCHENKO REPLACES KEY SECURITY AIDE
On Saturday, May 12, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko replaced Vitaly Hayduk with Ivan Plyushch in the post of secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC). Hayduk -- co-owner of the steel company Industrial Union of Donbas along with Serhy Taruta -- is a... MORE
TASHKENT EXPLORES OPTIONS TO EXPLOIT ENERGY RESOURCES
China’s relentless pursuit of energy options has now extended to Central Asia. On May 7 the leader of China’s top state planning body Ma Kai signed an energy-export agreement with Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Azimov in Tashkent. The pact is significant in that, if... MORE
UKRAINE’S COMMUNISTS AND SOCIALISTS LEFT BEHIND BY PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION DEAL
Ukraine’s constitutional crisis seemed resolved on May 4, when Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych agreed to early parliamentary elections. But the date of the vote cannot be finalized until a compromise package of legislative and constitutional changes is adopted (see EDM, May 4, 9). President Viktor... MORE