Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili delivered his New Year's address to Georgia from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where he had flown to congratulate Viktor Yushchenko on his victory in the presidential elections. This step emphasizes the importance Saakashvili gives to warm relations with a Yushchenko-governed Ukraine.... MORE

The ruling centrist and oligarchic elites that supported President Leonid Kuchma over the last decade are now rushing to adapt to the reality that Viktor Yushchenko is Ukraine's new president. The Supreme Court and Central Election Commission threw out complaints by his opponent, former prime... MORE

Ukraine is undergoing radical change in anticipation of a Yushchenko victory in the repeat presidential runoff on December 26. Challenger Viktor Yushchenko will have eight months to undertake sweeping and radical reforms before his powers are reduced when constitutional reforms go into effect in September... MORE

Ahead of the December 26 repeat presidential runoff, which will again pit opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko against Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, debate has resumed over Yushchenko's mysterious illness. On December 11, the Vienna-based Rudolfinerhaus clinic announced that Yushchenko had definitely been poisoned by dioxin, a... MORE

One of the biggest ironies of Ukraine's democratic "Orange Revolution" is that it will cause difficulties in the European Union, an organization that claims to embody "European values." Had former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych won the presidential election, it would have resolved the EU's dilemma:... MORE

U.S. President George W. Bush has thanked Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski for their assistance in negotiating a compromise to resolve Ukraine's ongoing political crisis (Lithuanian Radio, December 9). Poland and Lithuania dragged a reluctant EU into holding three round-table negotiations... MORE

The OSCE is probably the only international institution in which Russia has the statutory power to veto a country's advance toward democracy. At the OSCE's year-end meeting in Sofia on December 6-7, Russia vetoed part of the political declaration relating to Ukraine, claiming that it... MORE

More than 38,000 candidates are expected to contest 22,000 seats in Azerbaijan's December 17 municipal elections. Once again, the opposition has decided to boycott the vote. The independent daily Zerkalo reported that several opposition parties, including the Popular Front, Musavat and its allied parties in... MORE

In the aftermath of the scandalous second round of the Ukrainian presidential election on November 21, the pro-Kuchma parliamentary majority, established originally to back up Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's "coalition government," is continuing to unravel. The disintegration is part and parcel of the gradual defection... MORE

Last week Ukrainian opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko won a major victory. The opposition achieved one of its main goals -- the invalidation of the November 21 runoff -- and almost achieved its other major goal -- the dismissal of the cabinet formed by Prime... MORE