On April 7 in Moscow, Russian and Belarusian officials on the Commission on Common Economic Space discussed the latter’s request for another loan from Russia of around $1 billion. Belarus has also requested $2 billion from the Anti-Crisis Fund of the Eurasian Economic Community (also... MORE

The Croatian government has reversed a move that would have jeopardized its goal to complete accession negotiations with the European Union this year. A government meeting on April 2 was set unilaterally to impose a 49 percent limit on shareholding in the INA oil and... MORE

Croatia hopes to complete accession negotiations with the European Union during the course of this year. However, the government would put its own EU accession goals at risk if it were to re-orient its energy policy toward Russia, or away from EU competition policy. The... MORE

One year ago, the plane carrying President Lech Kaczynski and scores of Polish officials crashed 100 meters from the runway hidden by dense fog in Smolensk oblast.  On April 11, President Dmitry Medvedev and his Polish counterpart Bronislaw Komorowski will visit the site of this... MORE

Expectations raised by Russia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Sergei Lavrov, about re-starting negotiations to resolve the Transnistria conflict, have shattered on both counts: process and substance. Transnistria’s Moscow-installed authorities have defiantly contradicted Lavrov, with apparent impunity. Moscow has quickly backtracked, and Tiraspol has aborted the attempt... MORE

The Prosecutor-General’s Office on March 21 launched an investigation against Leonid Kuchma, suspecting him of involvement in the murder of the opposition journalist Georgy Gongadze in 2000, Deputy Prosecutor-General Renat Kuzmin announced on March 22. The Prosecutor-General’s Office on March 24 officially charged Kuchma, president... MORE

On March 29 in Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks with his Moldovan counterpart, Iurie Leanca, on resuming and advancing a resolution of the Transnistria conflict (Moldpres, March 30; Nezavisimaya Gazeta, March 31). European Union and Moldovan officials note some positive Russian signals in... MORE

Ukraine finds it increasingly difficult to balance its relations between the European Union and Russia, which are viewed in Kyiv as equally important trading partners. While talks on political association and free trade with the EU slowed somewhat recently, Moscow is stepping up its pressure... MORE

On March 15, the Russian and Kazakh Prime Ministers, Vladimir Putin and Karim Masimov, visited Minsk for trade and energy talks with their Belarusian counterpart, Mikhail Myasnikovich, under the auspices of the Common Economic Space (CES). Additionally, Putin held a personal meeting with Belarusian President... MORE

On March 25, the Rivne oblast’s economic court ruled that the state of Ukraine, not Russia’s Transneft, is the rightful owner of the “Samara [Russia] – West” oil product pipeline’s section on Ukrainian territory. Ukraine’s State Prosecutor's Office had brought this case before the Rivne... MORE