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his resignation to President Viktor Yanukovych, while an extraordinary session of the parliament (Vekhovna Rada) repealed the “draconian laws of January 16,” which had triggered the outburst of radicalism, violent battles, and tense standoffs between protesters and...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

Two sets of pronouncements cast light on today’s Belarus and at its possible foreseeable future. The first of these was uttered by Oleg Manaev, who was interviewed by an online opposition newspaper (gazetaby.com/cont/art.php?sn_nid=68538?). Manaev is the founder of the Independent Institute for Socio-Economic and Political... MORE

The eastern Mediterranean, which has seen an intermittent Russian naval presence for more than two centuries, will again see Russian military assets deployed there as a new Russian-Cypriot agreement takes effect. On January 10, Cyprus’s Council of Ministers approved a defense ministry draft proposal for... 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

A flurry of pronouncements about a Belarusian “national idea” has continued. Unusually, however, it is not only opposition-minded Belarusians who are now talking publicly about what it means to be a Belarusian; President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has weighed in on this topic as well (see EDM,... MORE

Russian Gazprom is taking over most of the core business of its German partner, Wintershall, in the natural gas trade and storage business. The two companies had conducted that business through the Wintershall-Gazprom joint venture, WINGAS, from 1993 to date. Gazprom is now turning WINGAS... MORE

On January 13, Gazprom Vice-President and Gazprom Export CEO Aleksandr Medvedev dropped by an annual meeting of Wintershall’s staff, at company headquarters in Kassel. It was, in this case, the guest who did the welcoming: Medvedev welcomed WINGAS, the Wintershall-Gazprom joint venture, to “become 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