Latest Articles about Ukraine
GAZPROM’S NEW EUROPEAN ROUTE: CRY UKRAINE?
Russian President Vladimir Putin's brief visit to Berlin last week was not only perfectly timed for the German elections but also loaded accordingly: He delivered a valuable gift to his ally, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, and made a pro-forma introduction to the opposition leader, Angela Merkel.... MORE
YUSHCHENKO FINALLY ACTS TO CLEAN UP HIS GOVERNMENT
Yesterday, September 8, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko fired his government and removed top officials accused of corruption. Oleksandr Zinchenko, the former head of the presidential secretariat, had leveled the startling corruption charges four days earlier after resigning on September 2 (see EDM, September 8). The... MORE
POLITICAL RAMIFICATIONS OF UKRAINE’S GAS SUPPLY PROBLEMS
President Viktor Yushchenko's September 7 decision to dismiss Yulia Tymoshenko's government will certainly affect Ukraine's crucial gas trade with Russia. Gas supply problems fraught with political complications are looming in Ukraine on the threshold of the heating-and-election season. The ruling coalition's prospects in the March... MORE
DIVISION OPENS IN UKRAINIAN LEADERSHIP: WILL YUSHCHENKO FALL IN?
It was no secret that the alliance that brought Viktor Yushchenko to power in Ukraine had its disagreements. The alliance, forged in the second round of the 2004 presidential elections, consisted of an eclectic group that ranged from socialists through liberal businessmen, moderate conservatives, and... MORE
YUSHCHENKO WANTS TO ERECT NEW BARRIER FOR RIVALS
Preparations for next spring's parliamentary election have de facto started in Ukraine, as President Viktor Yushchenko came up with a proposal for raising the barrier that parties and blocs of parties will have to overcome to get into the legislature. This plan should further weaken... MORE
TANGLED RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN GAS DEALS PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR CORRUPTION, INFLUENCE
Russia plans to triple gas prices ahead of Ukraine's parliamentary election and only months before winter begins (International Herald and Tribune, August 1). A recent commentary in Ukrayinska pravda (August 8) accused the regimes of former president Leonid Kuchma and Russia's President Vladimir Putin of... MORE
UKRAINIAN PARTIES SCRAMBLE FOR MEDIA, FOREIGN ALLIES, AHEAD OF PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
When the Ukrainian parliament reconvenes in early September, the March 2006 parliamentary election campaign will officially begin. Over the summer Ukrainian political parties have been energetically seeking media resources (especially television) and foreign support. Since Viktor Yushchenko became president, several television channels have changed hands.... MORE
UKRAINIAN MEDIA DISCUSS LIFESTYLES OF PRESIDENT’S SON, PRIME MINISTER
The integrity of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has been called into question by a barrage of media reports suggesting that they or their families live beyond their means. Their awkward reactions to the reports have only added fuel to the... MORE
THE MYTH OF UKRAINE’S “THIRD FORCE” IN PARLIAMENT
Parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn has made another trip to Moscow on August 1 to seek political support for the March 2006 parliamentary election (Ukrayinska pravda, August 1). But the choice is limited and it is not clear with whom Lytvyn's People's Party of Ukraine (NPU)... MORE
NEW DATA CREATES DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF ORANGE REVOLUTIONARIES, VOTERS
Democratic Initiatives, a well-established, Kyiv-based sociological think tank, has just published a new study, Politchnyi portret (no. 32, 2005). Democratic Initiatives was one of four Ukrainian sociological organizations involved in organizing exit polls during the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election. Politychnyi portret reveals that 18.4% of... MORE