Latest Articles about Ukraine
UKRAINE NAMES NEW FOREIGN MINISTER
On March 21 Ukraine’s parliament approved President Viktor Yushchenko’s choice for foreign minister, Arseny Yatsenyuk, 32. The appointment ends a standoff of nearly four months between Yushchenko and the Cabinet of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. The new minister has no experience with diplomatic work, but,... MORE
YUSHCHENKO’S PARTY THREATENED BY DEFECTIONS
On March 21 Anatoliy Kinakh accepted an offer from Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych’s government to become minister of economics. The government is allied to the National Unity (formerly Anti-Crisis) coalition composed of the Party of Regions, Communist, and Socialist parties. Kinakh’s appointment marks a... MORE
FORMER AND CURRENT UKRAINIAN INTERIOR MINISTERS READY TO CONFRONT EACH OTHER
Ukrainian law-enforcement agencies are not concealing their displeasure with the behavior of former interior minister Yuriy Lutsenko, one of the key figures of the 2004 Orange Revolution. Lutsenko has set up the “People’s Self-Defense” movement and is touring the regions in order to find out... MORE
UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE A PRIORITY FOR YUSHCHENKO
The language card is being played in Ukraine again, which often happens when elections loom. On February 22 Ukraine’s parliament, which is dominated by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions (PRU), decided to vote by the end of July on a bill that grants... MORE
MORE SETBACKS FOR RULE OF LAW IN UKRAINE
On March 4, 2005, former Ukrainian interior minister Yuriy Kravchenko was found dead with two bullet wounds to the head. The official verdict was suicide. Two years on, Kravchenko’s family has launched a private investigation claiming that two self-inflicted gunshots to the head would be... MORE
CORRUPTION PROBES IN UKRAINE: TABLES TURNED
As leadership has changed at Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, many former officials who fled Ukraine amid accusations of corruption after the Orange Revolution have nothing to fear. Criminal cases against them are being closed one by one. The Orange leaders cry foul, saying that this means... MORE
QUESTIONABLE RATIONALES FOR THE BOHORODCHANY-UZHHOROD GAS PIPELINE PROJECT
The Ukrainian government is stepping up its efforts to form a consortium with Gazprom to construct a gas transit pipeline in Ukraine from Bohorodchany to Uzhhorod. The 230-kilometer line, with a projected annual capacity of up to 20 billion cubic meters, would provide an additional... MORE
SLOVAK DETOUR WOULD DEFEAT ODESSA-BRODY OIL TRANSPORT PROJECT
Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych’s government seems to have abandoned a project to extend the Odessa-Brody pipeline into Poland for pumping Caspian oil outside Russian control. Instead, Yanukovych is negotiating with the government of Slovakia on a plan to transport both Caspian and Russian oil... MORE
YUSHCHENKO’S, TYMOSHENKO’S BLOCS PROCLAIM UNITY, SET GOALS
The pro-presidential Our Ukraine bloc (NU) and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYT) have signed an accord proclaiming a unified opposition. It is aimed against the majority coalition in parliament, which was formed last summer by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, the Socialists, and... MORE
UKRAINIAN-RUSSIAN STEEL MERGER ENTAILS TOP-LEVEL POLITICAL RAMIFICATIONS
The Industrial Union of Donbas (IUD), Ukraine’s second-largest steel-making group, is negotiating a merger with the Russian Metalloinvest group controlled by Alisher Usmanov, who also heads Gazprom’s investment arm for assets other than gas, Gazprominvestholding. An IUD-Metalloinvest merger could generate far-reaching political and business repercussions... MORE